Mediaweek first launched a list of Icons at the 2022 Mediaweek 100.
But what is a Mediaweek Icon?
It’s a media figure who has made an enduring impact on the media, marketing, and advertising industry in Australia.
This recognition celebrates influence, leadership, and legacy. These are the titans who have shaped the way the industry operates, whether through innovation, mentorship, creative excellence, or commercial success.
They are the figures whose work continues to inspire the next generation and whose contributions have helped define the media landscape over the years. Being named a Mediaweek Icon is not just about past achievements, it’s about lasting relevance and industry respect.
Here are the Mediaweek Icons (below in alphabetical order):
Who are the Mediaweek Icons?
Lou Barrett
Lou Barrett
In an industry where attention is everything, Lou Barrett understands better than most how to connect brands with audiences, and make it count. As Managing Director of Client Partnerships at News Corp Australia, Barrett sits at the intersection of storytelling, data, and revenue and has been instrumental in reshaping the company’s commercial offering to meet a changing market.
A media leader with deep roots in television, publishing, and radio, Barrett brings more than experience to the table, she brings perspective. Her early career included key roles at ACP Magazines, Nine, Bauer Media and Network Ten, giving her a cross-platform sensibility that’s become essential in today’s fragmented media landscape.
At NCA, Barrett has led the charge on repositioning the organisation’s vast portfolio — from mastheads and digital products to lifestyle brands — as a cohesive commercial ecosystem.
Barrett is also one of the most-trusted voices in media sales, known for being direct, strategic, and laser-focused on outcomes. She has advocated for greater transparency, smarter measurement, and more collaborative partnerships between media owners and marketers.
At a time when CMOs are under pressure to prove ROI and agencies are questioning old buying models, Lou Barrett is one of the few sales leaders who speaks both languages, editorial and commercial, legacy and digital, brand and performance.
Mikael Borglund
Mikael Borglund
In January 2024 Mikael Borglund bought back the production arm of Beyond from Banijay following the production and distribution giant’s acquisition of the scripted and non-scripted multi-territory content group in October 2022. “In 1984, the original intent was just to make one TV show,” Borglund told Mediaweek. It is now 40 years since the company was launched.
The original team with Borglund and Phil Gerlach, was three reporters who quit the ABC – Carmel Travers, Iain Finlay and Chris Ardill-Guinness – plus executive producers Peter Abbott and John Luscombe. Luscombe had previously worked on the ABC’s Towards 2000 and he came across after the ABC didn’t renew the show, and he still works alongside Borglund.
The team sold the Beyond program franchise to Seven in 1984 and the embryonic Beyond, originally called CIC Productions, was engaged to make it for them.
Beyond 2000 continued to be successful although it moved to Ten at one stage and then found its way back to Seven later with the name changing to Beyond Tomorrow. “It had a couple of interrupted runs,” Luscombe told Mediaweek.
Beyond has made much of its content for the US market, which has then been sold elsewhere around the world. One series was key in lifting the company’s fortunes – MythBusters.
Other key productions over the years included Stingers, Halifax fp, Pulse, Day of The Roses, Medivac, Good Guys Bad Guys, James Cameron’s Deep Sea Challenge 3D, Deadly Women, John Farnham: Finding The Voice, Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line, and an Olivia Newton-John animal series called Human Nature which featured a young Tim Worner as the executive producer.
Brad Lyons was on the payroll once too working on Invention. Kim Dalton also worked for Beyond, plus Brian Smith who was on camera and later worked internationally for National Geographic.
Ita Buttrose
Ita Buttrose
ABC chair Ita Buttrose has held executive and editing roles for major Australian media companies including the ABC, Australian Consolidated Press, News Limited and Fairfax Media, and has run her own media company, Capricorn Publishing.
She has served on the boards of Australian Consolidated Press, News Corp Australia, and Television & Telecasters Pty Ltd. (Network Ten). She has worked in print, radio and television and has written 11 books.
She was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2017.
Janet Cameron
Janet Cameron
One of Australia’s most reclusive “media barons”, Cameron took over the family radio business Grant Broadcasters which grew into a network of 55 mainly regional radio stations.
When Cameron finally allowed journalist Peter Saxon to interview her in 2017, he asked why she was always so reluctant to speak to the media. “What have I got to say? Nothing really. There are a lot more interesting people. I’m a relic.”
In late 2021, ARN announced its acquisition of Grant Broadcasters, giving advertisers the potential to reach over 90% of Australians nationwide. Cameron still worked in the business at that stage, along with her children Alison, Grant and Dugald.
The acquisition included radio and digital operations across 46 Grant stations.
The sale was worth $307.5m. Of that, 22.5% of the purchase consideration was delivered in ARN shares.
The business was not looking for a sale, with Alison telling Mediaweek if ARN wanted to make an offer she made sure they knew it had to be a good one.
“For 80 years Walter Grant, his daughter Janet Cameron and her family have been operating regional radio stations that serve local communities in regional Australia. We are so very proud of the connection the stations have with those communities and of our staff for continuing that commitment,” Alison said after revealing the sale.
Bruce Gordon
Bruce Gordon
Bruce Gordon may not be a household name like some of Australia’s media titans, but his influence has long been undeniable. As the owner of WIN Corporation, he controls one of the largest privately held media companies in the country, with deep ties to regional television, broadcast rights, and the history of Network Ten and Nine.
Originally a sales executive at Paramount Pictures, Gordon built his empire through savvy acquisitions and an eye for regional dominance. Based in Bermuda but born in Australia, he’s maintained a low public profile while exerting high-level influence across the industry, especially in boardrooms.
He has been a major shareholder in both Nine Entertainment and Ten Network Holdings, at various times wielding the kind of voting power that could tip board decisions and strategic outcomes, most notably during Ten’s administration and sale to CBS.
In recent years, as the media landscape has shifted toward streaming, Gordon’s focus has remained on the value of broadcast and linear TV, particularly in regional markets. Even as others chased digital disruption, Gordon held the line on the belief that local content, trusted brands, and strategic partnerships still had a role to play, especially outside metro capitals.
Now in his 90s, Gordon continues to play a watchful role in Australian media; more observer than operator, but always a stakeholder to watch.
David Leckie
David Leckie
A former chief executive officer of Seven West Media and the Nine Network, David Leckie passed away in June 2021. His wife Skye revealed he died at Mulberry Farm, Robertson after a long illness.
As chief executive officer of Nine Network from 1990 to 2001, he cemented its leading position in the television industry. Leckie worked in sales and management under Kerry Packer at Nine for 23 years before being hired by Kerry Stokes in 2003 in a move to rejuvenate the Seven Network. It worked. Seven soon became the #1 network in both ratings and revenue with its mix of news, sport and entertainment.
In addition to his expertise in sales, Leckie had a brilliant understanding of what Australians wanted to watch on television, a long track record of mentoring media executives, and a lifetime passion for rugby.
Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
In September 2023 it was revealed that Rupert Murdoch was stepping down as chairman of the board of both News Corp and Fox Corp.
Taking his place at the top of both companies after the next AGMs is his eldest son Lachlan Murdoch.
Rupert Murdoch was executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, from 2015 to the closing of the merger of 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company in March 2019. Murdoch served as CEO of 21st Century Fox from its inception as News Corporation in 1979 until 2015 and as its chairman from 1991 to 2015.
He inherited his father’s interests in the Adelaide newspaper The News in 1952, becoming editor, publisher and a member of the board of News Limited the following year. In 1954, Murdoch took control of News Limited and later moved into television. His company founded the Southern Television Corporation and pushed its newly licensed Channel 9 to be the first to air in 1959 in South Australia.
Global expansion under his leadership began as News Limited bought the Sydney-based Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror in 1960, followed by the launch of The Australian, Australia’s first national newspaper, in 1964. The company gained control of the UK’s News of the World and The Sun in 1969 and subsequently acquired several publications in the US including the New York Post.
More details about the rest of Rupert Murdoch’s media journey here.
Barry O’Brien
Barry O’Brien OAM
Founder and chairman of Atomic 212°, Barry O’Brien OAM, has a love for the media industry that spans more than 30 years and he has held the roles of CEO of media agency PHD (formerly known as TOTAL) and chief sales officer for Network Ten.
O’Brien has said his media journey hasn’t been easy and he has appreciated great support from the industry.
“I’m super proud of our incredible agency. I stand proudly as chairman of the number one media independent in the market.”
Kerry Stokes
Kerry Stokes
In an era when legacy media is fighting for relevance, Kerry Stokes remains one of the last true media moguls operating at scale in Australia.
As Chairman of Seven West Media, Stokes has shaped the country’s broadcast and publishing landscape for decades, and shows no signs of stepping back.
From humble beginnings — dropping out of school and starting with an earthmoving business — Stokes built an empire across television, publishing, and mining, and remains a uniquely influential figure bridging media and business. His control of Seven, combined with a major stake in The West Australian, gives him an outsized voice in both news and entertainment.
Stokes is known for being fiercely loyal to his executives and quietly strategic. Under his leadership, Seven has navigated boom-and-bust ad cycles, digital disruption, and changing viewer habits, always with an eye on profitability and control.
He’s made bold calls, from securing Olympics broadcast rights to green-lighting local formats like Home and Away that helped define the network’s brand.
Beyond media, his investments in mining and defence tech through interests like Australian Capital Equity show his diversified clout and help explain his continued power across industries.
Often staying in the background, Stokes isn’t one for headline interviews or splashy statements. But in key moments (from CEO transitions to high-stakes regulatory debates) his influence is unmistakable. He’s one of the last media proprietors with skin in the game, still deeply embedded in the operations and direction of the companies he built.
Brian Walsh
Brian Walsh
Brian Walsh was a special guest at the first Mediaweek 100 Power lunch in October 2022 and passed away in March 2023.
He had been part of the Foxtel management team since the business launched in 1995. Under his last contract with Foxtel, he was to continue his consultancy with the subscription TV platform. He planned to continue to work on local content strategy, industry relations and was to continue spearheading the Foxtel Originals drama division.
“This is my 27th year I’ve been involved with Foxtel,” Walsh told Mediaweek in 2022. “I was part of the pioneering management team in 1995 that launched the service. I joined the company back then as a consultant because I still had my own promotions business going.”
Brian began his career with ABC before going into feature film production and distribution at Palm Beach Pictures and promotions and publicity at Sydney Radio Station 2SM. After five years at Radio 2SM, Walsh joined Network Ten, where he launched major network events, including the acclaimed Kennedy Miller mini-series Vietnam, The Bangkok Hilton, and The Dirtwater Dynasty. Walsh was also credited with responsibility for the global success of the iconic Australian family drama series Neighbours and launching the careers of Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce.
In subscription TV over the past two decades, he oversaw all scripted and unscripted commissions for the Foxtel Group. This included the series Wentworth, Upright, Deadline Gallipoli, The Kettering Incident, The End and most recently the award-winning and globally distributed series Love Me, Colin from Accounts and The Twelve.