Spy: The 10 Most Influential Media Women

Sussan Turner - the most inflectional woman in the New Zealand media, according to Rachel Glucina. Photo Supplied

10. Jay-Jay Feeney
The Edge Morning Madhouse co-host
Feeney talks, she blogs, she Facebooks and she tweets (she has nearly 10,000 Twitter followers alone). The woman is a media machine. Thousands tune into her radio show each morning and thousands more watched the TV doco of her heart-wrenching journey and failure to conceive an IVF baby. She talks to a generation and we listen.

9. Deborah Hill-Cone
Herald on Sunday and New Zealand Herald columnist, blogger and TV reviewer
Deborah is opinionated, feisty, searingly candid and as such, has a real tangible link to her reading audience. Her sway comes in the form of an acerbic commentary that snares at and chews up anyone she finds immoral and irrelevant, like Hanover directors or C&R councilors. She may be famed for her lashings of red lipstick, but she carries serious sway for keeping it honest.

8. Sarah Sandley
CEO New Zealand Magazines
A former New Zealand ping-pong champ and Katherine Mansfield scholar (with a PhD), Sarah Sandley reigns over New Zealand Magazines and its titles from NZ Listener to NZ Woman's Weekly, New Idea, Creme, Simply You and Simply You Living. Thanks to Sandley, Kiwis are inspired and entertained every week. She is smart, sassy and a really good stick. Trust me. She's the sort of woman you want batting in your corner.

7. Belinda Mulgrew
Chief Executive Officer of MediaWorks Radio
I've never met her, I know very little about her, and I doubt that will change anytime soon. But if you run some of the country's most popular radio stations, then you have influence. Belinda may be an ex bean counter, but she's carrying serious clout now.

6. Bernadette Courtney
Editor of Dominion Post
I probably shouldn't even be writing about her, after all, she works for the opposition. But there's no denying a female editor of a metropolitan daily newspaper holds real authority. She broke the Tony Veitch scandal, and for that alone, Courtney has made a massive impact on the media stage.

5. Pippa Wetzell
Breakfast co-host
She's warm, engaging, empathetic and the public adore her. Who knows when we'll see her back on our screens when she waddles off on maternity leave to have baby number three, but Ms Wetzell should be chuffed to know that most women want to be her; most men want to bonk her. Her star is scandal-free and hugely likeable making her an extremely valuable commodity to TVNZ.

4. Andi Brotherston
TVNZ news and current affairs PR manager
She is the gate-keeper to the country's largest stable of media stars and she guards them ferociously like a plucky mother hen. I should know, I've tried to sneak into the hen house a few times on the hunt for scandal. Despite the Paul Henry gaffe, Andi is sharp as a tack, fiercely loyal and a warm bundle of energy. TVNZ news has enjoyed a golden period, winning a swag of gongs, and Andi has played a major part behind-the-scenes. Other media companies are on the prowl, eager to poach her to their side, so I hope TVNZ appreciates how much effect she has.

3. TIE: Jane Wilson and Kelly Martin
Director of programming at TVNZ and TV3/C4 respectively
They are two of the most likeable and long-lasting characters I've met in the industry, which says a lot about them because television is mostly fickle and fleeting. They choose what we watch on TV; from Go Girls to Glee. Wilson and Martin dictate our viewing behaviour. They are obsessed with ratings, which drives advertising and media spend. The maths is simple. These programming princesses wield power and influence.

2. Donna Chisholm
Editor-at-large of Metro and North and South magazines
She is an award-winning journalist with a breath of contacts and the ability to make great change through her investigative daring. She is best-known for her campaign which led to David Dougherty being freed from jail from an abduction and rape he didn't commit. Actress Jodee Rimmer even played her in the TV drama Until Proven Innocent. Chisholm has chutzpah. Chisholm affects change. Chisholm has influence.

1. Sussan Turner
MediaWorks group managing director
She hails from the deep south and used to date Mike Hosking many moons ago, but we won't hold that against her. Sussan Turner is the doyenne of the media world ruling a television network (TV3 and C4) and a host of radio stations (from RadioLive to the Rock), so she definitely matters. She guards her private life intensely and doesn't play the celebrity CEO game like others we could mention. Underneath the fashion-plate demeanour Turner is a tough, combative, sharp operator with an ambition that knows no bounds. She is an extraordinary woman with immense influence on our media industry and her star deservedly shines.