Media Hero & Villain of 2011... revealed

It's time to reveal who Media Blog readers have voted as their Media Hero and Villain of 2011 - a year dominated by the issue of phone hacking.

 

Media Hero Of The Year:

1st: Nick Davies - The Guardian journalist was shortlisted for this award in 2009 when he first lifted the lid on phone hacking at the News Of The World. Since then he has worked tirelessly to uncover the full extent of a scandal which has been the dominant media story of 2011. It should be noted that during the voting period for this award Davies was criticised by News International employees past and present, after doubts emerged as to whether the News Of The World was indeed responsible for deleting certain voicemails from Milly Dowler's phone, as Davies had initially alleged. However, this criticism appears not to have affected the voting, not least because the point stood that Dowler's phone, along with many hundreds of others had been hacked by people acting for the News Of The World, as exposed by Davies.

2nd: Tom Watson MP - Watson has lead the charge in Westminster to make Rupert and James Murdoch answerable for the phone hacking scandal which took place on their watch.

3rd: Hugh Grant - Grant's extraordinary New Statesman article helped push the phone hacking scandal into the mainstream. The actor exposed the methods of News Of The World reporter Paul McMullan using a hidden dictaphone.

 

Media Villain Of The Year:

1st: Rupert Murdoch - As far as voters were concerned 'The buck stops here' for phone hacking, at the very top of the News International tree. Given the chance to give his side of the story in Westminster, Murdoch said "people I trusted let me down, and I think they betrayed the company", but the public clearly sees things differently and feels Murdoch must shoulder the blame for what happened at his company, carried out by people in his employ.

2nd: Rebekah Brooks - Brooks' initial refusal to resign and her attitude - described as "arrogant" during an angry exchange with staff - while the News Of The World died of shame did little to rescue a reputation inextricably linked with a period of scandal at News International.

3rd: James Murdoch - Murdoch Junior's defence appears to rely on his ignorance about much that took place at News International, including claims that he did not read in detail a key email which undermined the 'one rogue reporter' defence.