Top Media Stories of 2011

Apple lost its visionary leader when Steve Jobs, who co-founded the company, died after years of health problems on Oct. 5, 2011. Apple now faces questions about whether it can continue creating dramatic innovations that has made it one of the most admired computer companies in the world.

Oprah Winfrey is used to being on top. Seeing her Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) fall to 73rd in the cable TV Nielsen ratings shows that she's not immune to the troubles of launching a new brand. In what will be one of the media stories to watch, Winfrey now promises to get more involved in leading OWN -- including by returning to the air. She needs to do something, because Forbes magazine says Lady Gaga has surpassed her in media.

The New York Times finds itself in the controversy surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The U.S. Air Force blocked online access to the Times and other media companies which posted government documents that WikiLeaks helped expose. The question becomes how much information should Americans be able to read about their government? But WikiLeaks faces questions of its own because a cash shortage has caused it to stop publishing.

Glenn Beck is not just a broadcaster but a businessman. He decided to end his daily program on the Fox News Channel to produce a show available by subscription on the Internet. This will be a big test for all who work in television. If Beck can convince his millions of fiercely loyal viewers to pay to watch him on the Internet, that will be a model for other TV personalities to follow.

A new report from the Newspaper Association of America has some encouraging news for papers hoping to boost their bottom lines by deciding whether to charge for online content. The NAA says that traffic to newspaper websites is up, even with some newspapers putting up paywalls. The Boston Globe became one of the latest to erect a paywall, following the lead of The New York Times, which showed an increase in monthly unique visitors, even by charging some readers.

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch's media empire has shrunk by one property. He was forced to close his News of the World tabloid newspaper in Great Britain in the wake of a phone-hacking scandal. That paper was the biggest Sunday paper in the U.K., with more than two million readers. As more details of the scandal were revealed, questions were raised about whether Murdoch would remain at the top of News Corp.

The 2011-2012 TV season had barely started when CBS set a Nielsen ratings record by placing 20 shows in the top 30 for three weeks in a row. It also posted impressive numbers in the key ratings demographics. This dominance comes at the suffering of one of its network competitors. In this case, it's NBC. The peacock network plunged to sixth place in a key demographic during one night in October.

Hank Williams Jr. no longer sings the theme song for Monday Night Football. It was his political comments during an interview on Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends that caused ESPN to pull the plug on his "Are You Ready for Some Football?" musical intro. On Fox, Williams answered a question by comparing a golf game between President Obama and U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to a round between Adolf Hitler and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which offended some viewers. After ESPN ended its relationship with Williams, he maintained he was the one who pulled the song from the broadcasts.

In another shift in direction at CBS News, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley was chosen to replace Katie Couric on the anchor desk at the CBS Evening News. While she takes her gift of gab to ABC to launch a talk show, CBS is rebuilding most of its news division toward more hard news reporting. It's hoped that Pelley can return the nightly broadcast to the glory days of Walter Cronkite. While CBS is number one in prime time, its evening news ratings lag behind the competition.

CNN is still trying to find ratings magic in its prime time lineup that will enable it to challenge Fox News Channel in the cable news wars. It shifted Anderson Cooper 360 to 8:00 p.m. ET after cancelling Eliot Spitzer's In the Arena. Meanwhile Piers Morgan Tonight is still trying to gain ratings traction at 9:00 p.m. CNN did get a bit of good news when Keith Olbermann ended his Countdown program at rival MSNBC. With the 2012 presidential race, more people will be watching the cable news channels, which will help CNN boost its audience even if it doesn't close the gap with Fox.