Best of 2009: Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith has just left PaidContent:UK but he gave me his Best Media of the Year before he went.

Best old media: I'm going for Private Eye. I think I said this last year, but again it's a print mag that doesn't need a huge online presence. It's a little bit sniffy about new media and blogs, but it shines a light on areas of UK life that would go completely unreported otherwise.

Best new media: Too much to choose from... it's not strictly 'media' in the news sense you probably mean, but 2009 has been a great year for online music services: Spotify is potentially a game-changer for the music biz and I'm a big fan. Also good are Audioboo, a mobile audio-blogging service (you can hear my boos here) and Soundcloud which allows you to store and send massive audio files, which is hugely useful for journalists these days.

Best story: I'm deliberately not saying MPs' expenses -- the Telegraph genuinely handled it brilliantly and better than some other papers would have, but it could have been someone else's scoop. In terms of its immediate impact all around the world, I'm going for Michael Jackson's death.

Best journalist: Again, too many good ones, but Ian Cobain of the Guardian was a deserving winner of the Eye's Paul Foot award and the Indy's Martin Hickman's investigations on how the production of palm oil for everyday products is destroying rainforests was fascinating and very scary.

Prediction for 2009: Newspapers will get smaller, some will close and more and more local websites covering specific areas will sprout up to replace the coverage communities are losing. I also tip Sheffield Wednesday to stay in the Championship, narrowly.

Tomorrow: Judith Townend of Journalism.co.uk

Best ofs, so far: Grey Cardigan; Jean Morgan; Neil Fowler; Chris Wheal; Adrian Monck; Paul Linford; Jo Wadsworth; Steve Dyson; Steve Busfield; Sam Shepherd.