She ruled the media after me, sadly (7)
I believe the answer is:
empress
'she ruled' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'media after me sadly' is the wordplay.
'media' becomes 'press' (the press is part of the media).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'sadly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'me' is an anagram of 'em'.
'press' put after 'em' is 'EMPRESS'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for empress that I've seen before include "She rules over vast territories" , "one married to ruler?" , "Powerful woman" , "Female sovereign" , "In Victoria, say" .)