Results From the Newscaster Popularity Contest Are In

Who does America think is the most likable (and recognizable) name in news? The answer may surprise you.

Apologies for that hacky local news lede; it’s what the people want and I’m trying to bolster my Q score. When I say “Q scores,” I’m using “insidery” “showbiz” “jargon” to mean “likability.” There’s a method to this madness that involves showing people pictures and names of newsreading/pundit type people, asking if the recognize them, and asking if they like them. This matters a great deal to networks, who wish to employ people that viewers find likable and therefore watchable. And so, from time to time, the “Q scores” of media personalities are measured. Higher means better. Lower means worse. And here are who, according to America, America likes best.

According to The Wrap, the most Q’d out media pundit in Amurrica right now is — drumroll please:

Scott Pelley of CBS News. All hail King Pelley. Here’s a picture of Scott Pelley hanging out in a gym with Hugh Jackman looking swole as hell.

Nipping at his heels is fellow muscle having guy Anderson Cooper, followed by Lara Logan, Brian Williams, Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, Diane Sawyer, Ann Curry, and Morley Safer. Rounding out the top ten is your girlfriend Rachel Maddow. Surprising that Ann Curry was more liked than Maddow, no?

Now for the bringers up of the rear. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has a lower than average score, followed by Leslie Stahl of “60 Minutes,” and Andrea Mitchell and Alex Wagner of MSNBC. In last place is Chris Matthews, the left wing’s shouting id. Poor Chris Matthews. Poor MSNBC.

Q scores aren’t a measure of who is actually the best journalist or the smartest person or the best interviewer or the person with the most scoops; they’re more based on the feel-goodiness a talking head gives people. Some might even say they’re kind of what’s wrong with journalism, as they’re basically just your grandma saying “I don’t like that Andrea Mitchell lady’s attitude” as a hiring and retention philosophy. But luckily, human affection is as touchy as the news cycle. One on-air kitten CPR sesh could rocket Matthews back to the top of next quarters Q scores.

As long as he doesn’t yell anything about the Bush administration right after.