Erin Andrews voted most influential TV reporter

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From the "You've gotta be kidding me" department, we have the news that ESPN's on-air reporter Erin Andrews has been voted "the most influential TV reporter" in a contest established by website Mediaite.com. If you're wondering just who Erin Andrews is and have been under a rock, first consult my video above, then come back here.

To recap, Erin Andrews is the ESPN reporter that was the focus - literally - of someone taking a peephole camcorder video of her in the nude, in a hotel room. The suspect has still not been identified or captured as of this writing, while some believe it may have been a co-worker at ESPN. With that action, Erin Andrews has emerged from unknown to known, and to "most infuential reporter" in two-weeks. Before we look closely at that, let's see who she passed up to gain the lofty title.

The Mediaite Power Grid contains 290 reporters in its selection field for the category of "TV Reporter". Overall, Mediaite ranks 1,500 personalities in 12 categories. Anyone can send an email to be listed, at powergrid@mediaite.com, but once there, Mediaites' system takes over and its not perfect, at least at first. But I argue that it is depending on how the results are used. Let's look at Mediaite's explanation for how it ranks TV reporters, where Erin Andrews is listed, first:

TV Reporters are individuals who report news stories on-air for a television network. Their rankings are determined based on: appearances/mentions on television as compiled by the media monitoring service TVEyes, ratings of that network or program, Online Buzz of proper name, Blogs Buzz of proper name, and Twitter Followers (if applicable). You might at times see an individual ranked higher than any of their individual metric rankings — keep in mind that our algorithm weights some metrics more than others.

And here's the complete list of metrics used, straight from Mediaite's FAQ page:

Metrics

Twitter Followers – This metric is an individual’s total number of Twitter followers, if applicable. (Individuals who do not use Twitter will not be penalized.)

Google Buzz of Name - This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google search of an individual’s name. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named individuals, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Buzz metric for James B. Stewart, the writer and reporter, filters out hits for Jimmy Stewart, the actor, and for James Stewart, Jr., the motocross racer.

Google Blog Buzz of Name – This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google blog search of an individual’s name. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named individuals, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Blog Buzz metric for James B. Stewart, the writer and editor, filters out hits for Jimmy Stewart, the actor, and for James Stewart, Jr., the motocross racer.

Google Buzz of Affiliation or Title – This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google search of a television program, print publication, or online publication. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named titles, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Buzz metric for Vanity Fair, the Condé Nast magazine, filters out hits for the Thackeray novel of the same name.

Google Blog Buzz of Affiliation or Title - This metric is the number of relevant hits yielded by a Google blog search of a television program, print publication, or online publication. Irrelevant hits, such as those for similarly-named titles, are filtered out. For instance, the Google Buzz metric for Vanity Fair, the Condé Nast magazine, filters out hits for the Thackeray novel of the same name.

Ratings of Columns - This metric is the ratings of this individual’s columns published, either exclusively online or through a publication’s website, over the past 180 days as determined by Technorati.

Print Circulation – This metric can be one of two things. For newspapers, this metric is the total average paid circulation per week. For magazines, this metric is the total paid and verified circulation per issue.

Unique Online Visitors – This metric is the estimated number of visitors to an online publication’s website in the past month, as determined by online reporting site Compete.com.

TV Airtime (through TVEyes) -This metric is the total number of times an individual appears or is mentioned on air in the previous week on a selection of U.S. cable channels, local network affiliates, and international television news operations. These statistics are reported by the media monitoring service TVEyes.

Time slot Ratings - This metric is the total viewership of the program, as extrapolated from Nielsen-reported television ratings.Note: in some cases television ratings have been adjusted for individuals who appear on programs that only air once per week, or are part of a larger ensemble cast.

Network Ratings - This metric is the total viewership for all programs managed by a given television executive, as extrapolated from Nielsen-reported television ratings. In the case of broadcast networks, we are using Prime Time network ratings. Cable Networks, however, we are using the average total day rating. Note: in some cases television ratings have been adjusted for individuals who appear on programs that only air once per week, or are part of a larger ensemble cast.

Radio Ratings - This metric is the average total number of listeners for a given radio program as extrapolated from Arbitron’s radio listenership ratings that are publicly available or self-reported.

Company Valuations - This metric is the estimated total valuation of all media companies in which an individual owns a significant stake. Non-media companies owned by an individual are not counted; however, any media company in which the individual holds a partial stake is counted at full value.

Personal Net Worth – This metric is the estimated net worth of an individual, including media, non-media holdings, and other components of personal wealth.

Number of Employees – This metric is the estimated total number of people employed under an individual, whether at an entire media company, a network, an individual publication, or a television show.

Looking at the list, Erin Andrews shares the stage with such luminaries as ABC's Jack Tapper (ranked number 2 today), MSNBC's Chuck Todd (ranked number 3 today), and others like CBS News' Morley Safer and Mike Wallace (number 4 and number 5 respectively). The highest ranking woman other than Andrews is Savannah Guthrie, White House Correspondent for NBC News at number 6 on the list. The reason Andrews is the most powerful on this list is - and Mediaite explains this - directly related to the buzz she's gotten due to this whole peephole video affair.

But does that mean she's not powerful? Well, yes and no. Let's take the hard-to-stomach yes, first. Andrews has a platform that she and ESPN could use to gain ratings or for her to bring attention to a particular concern she has, like how women should be looked at by a different set of "metrics" in media. Regardless of the fact that she would be advocating for an end to the very thing that gave her a platform, she would have it to use for her soapbox. So far, she hasn't done that, and it's a huge error. Erin lacks a Twitter page, for which she could gain millions of new followers overnight to do with whatever she pleases in much the same way that Ellen DeGeneres used her millions of followers to advance an online petition.

That Andrews may not have liked how she got this platform is perhaps the main reason she's not using it, but it's a big error in judgment because given that her network rankings on Mediaite are at number 45, when the buzz dies down, her drop from number one's going to be a big one unless she has a new appearance on TV once during the next two weeks. So, you may ask?

The "So" is in dollar. Buzz equals bucks, my friend, and people want to see and learn about other people. That's what's missing from the recent blog by San Francisco Chronicle Editor-At-Large Phil Bronstein on the new narcisism in media. Hey Phil, it pays the bills, just ask Rush Limbaugh, who's following of 14 million "dittoheads" has him laughing all the way to the bank with a $400 million contract.

If Andrews plays her cards correctly she can build such a following, but she's got to get over the anger of what happened to her to do so. Whomever made the peephole video unwittingly gave her a weapon to change media for herself - it's up to her to use it. Andrews can parlay the attention into a business that uses her name to help other women in media get noticed the right way, not the nude way.