This is and has been one of the worst years for media in memory, but the bigger story in the minds of media planners and buyers was the death of Michael Jackson, pop star and entertainment icon of a generation.

That was the outcome of a Media Life survey last week asking readers to name the big stories of the year across media, from radio to TV and the internet.

Asked to name the year’s defining media story, readers picked Jackson's death ahead of the tanking of the media economy by a small margin. Nearly 33 percent of respondents chose Jackson, versus 27 percent for the media economy.

Third, but a distant third at 14 percent, was Jay Leno’s move to primetime on NBC, and fourth, at 12 percent, was the rise of social networking.

And the great media debacle of 2009?

Again, a tabloid story was the top choice over an industry story. The Jon and Kate Gosselin saga won the vote of 34 percent of respondents versus 27 percent for the huge layoffs throughout the media industry.

Third, but well down the from the other two at 16 percent, was Kanye West hijacking Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards.

But asked specifically about which media casualty hit the hardest this past year, readers chose the layoffs that swept across the industry and the drying up of automotive advertising, each getting nearly 26 percent of the vote, with Jackson's death coming in third at 23 percent.

As for the big stories in specific media, Fox won the vote as the network with the best year with 37 percent of the vote, ahead of No. 2 CBS with 31 and ABC in third with 19 percent. NBC got 6 percent of the vote.

Bu the biggest TV story of the year was easily Leno's move into primetime, with 26 percent of the vote, even ahead of Comcast's acquisition of Leno's network, NBC, which got 22 percent of the vote.

Third and fourth were the Jon and Kate saga and the switch to digital, each getting just over 12 percent of the vote.

The biggest story in magazines was the bloodbath at Conde Nast in which four magazines were closed and dozens of people were laid off as a result of the sagging media economy.

That came ahead of the continued closures of titles at 33 percent and the ongoing tumble of ad page at 11 percent.

The biggest story in newspapers followed similar lines: the closure of major newspapers such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Rocky Mountain News.

Second was the continued layoffs throughout the industry at 17 percent and third came the bankruptcies of owners of major papers like the Philadelphia Inquirer and Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The biggest web story of 2009? In a word, Twitter.

That was the first choice by far among media planners and buyers at 49 percent. The No. 2 choice was the Susan Boyle phenomenon, the "Britain's Got Talent" contestant whose rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" became a viral video hit.

The big story in radio was the huge declines in ad revenue at 30 percent of the vote, just ahead of Howard Stern’s fade to oblivion on satellite at 29 percent. Third, at 16 percent, was the ongoing drama surrounding Arbitron’s PPM.

Finally, Media Life invited readers to write in what they thought were the year's most surprising developments in media. More than one said, "That I still have a job."

Others focused on developments outside their department. The Comcast deal for NBC Universal topped the list, but others receiving multiple mentions included Leno's move to primetime, Jackson's death, David Letterman's blackmail scandal and Tiger Woods' fall from grace.