Congratulations to the Octagon for Grabbing the Most Network Facetime of 2009
According to network-news statistician Andrew Tyndall, Jake "the Octagon" Tapper's inquiring face was on ABC News' air for 370 minutes—or six long hours—last year, making him the most unavoidable network news reporter of 2009.
Tapper beat out that loser Chip Reid over at CBS by a full half-hour, and Chuck Todd, the lazy new guy on the White House beat, only ranked fourth. (Tyndall's rankings are limited to network newscasts, because nobody has time to watch all that cable news.) Interestingly, despite the perception that network newscasts are devoted exclusively to stories about prostate cancer and pills, the only medical reporter who cracked the top 20 in 2009 was NBC News' Robert Bazell.
For the full decade, NBC News' Andrea Mitchell takes the prize with 2,416 minutes, or 40 hours, of talkingtalkingtalking, the thought of which positively nauseates us.
Charts by Gawker intern Sergio Hernandez.