.The Daily Beast has churned out a top 25 list of right-wing journalists. Unsurprisingly, politics junkies are already nitpicking. The top five are Paul Gigot (head of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page), Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Peggy Noonan and Bill O'Reilly. The list was assembled by Tunku Varadarajan, an NYU prof and Daily Beast contributor. He surveyed 50 academics, politicians, journalists, and a "few unclassifiable (but wise) friends of The Daily Beast."
As The Atlantic Wire is well aware, compiling a definitive list is no small feat. We put together our own list of influential pundits using three metrics (not just one). Inevitably, we had our critics. And now, so does The Daily Beast. Here's what pundits are saying about their new compendium:
- Take Me Off This List! writes Rush Limbaugh: "I don't deserve to be on the list. I'm not a journalist. I value my reputation much more than to agree to being a journo."
- Too Much WSJ, complains Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters: "A review of the entire list finds many Journal figures including Peggy Noonan in the fourth position, James Taranto in ninth, editor Gerald Baker in twelfth, editorial writer Joseph Rago in twentieth, and columnist Mary O'Grady in twenty-fourth. That means that six of the 25 on the list are from the Journal. Is the Beast saying the Journal is the most influential conservative media outlet in the country?"
- 'No Charles Krauthammer?' moans Kyle Wingfield at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- Journalism Loosely Defined, writes JammieWearingFool: "Talking heads like Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, etc. are a far cry from what most would consider a journalist."
- Libertarians Are Not Conservatives, tweets Jack Shafer: "Since when is Nick Gillespie a right-winger! This is libel!"