Who Got the Most Airtime in ’08?

Andrew Tyndall of the Tyndall Report has compiled his 2008 Year in Review, and not surprisingly the top story on network news was the presidential election.

Actually, it was the top three stories. Tyndall breaks down the stories by candidate — 745 stories about Barack Obama, 531 about John McCain and 288 about Hillary Clinton. Of the three evening newscasts, NBC Nightly News had the most “balance” when it came to the number of stories on Obama and McCain.

Economic stories made up the next three, with the bailout at #4, gas prices at #5 and the stock market at #6.

The top story of 2007, the Iraq War, finished #7 in 2008. The networks produced less than a quarter of the number stories about the war in 2008 (434) than they did in 2007 (1,888), according to Tyndall.

Click continued for a breakdown of the most used reporters (and a list of the Top 20)…

The most used reporter in 2008 was Andrea Mitchell, who finished 3rd in 2007. The #1 reporter in 2007, Jake Tapper, was #2 in 2008. David Gregory, now in a new role, moved from #2 in 2007 out of the Top 20 in ’08. Two correspondents who moved up on the list were ABC’s Betsy Stark and CBS’ Anthony Mason, as the economy became a major story. Here is the complete list: