Olbermann Tops Playgirl Countdown

It turns out Keith Olbermann is the nation's "sexiest newscaster"

MSNBC's Olbermann won Playgirl magazine's online poll, winning 24% of the 50,000 who voted. In early voting, he had trailed both Sean Hannity and Anderson Cooper.
Of course, the magazine points out that Olbermann also linked his Web site to Playgirl's to help get out the vote. Coming in second was Fox's Sean Hannity, followed by CNN's Anderson Cooper, who was in Baghdad during much of the voting, which cut down on whatever campaigning time he might have wanted to put in.

Fox and NBC tied for the most sexy guys in the top 10 at three apiece

That victory also comes with an offer to pose for the magazine, which tends to focus on more than journalistic assets. Michelle Zipp, editor of the magazine, was slated to appear on Olbermann's show, Countdown, Monday to present the award and extend the official invitation to pose.

Rounding out the top 10 vote getters were Fox's Shepard Smith, fourth; CBS' Andy Rooney and CNN's Bill Hemmer, tied for fifth; NBC's Matt Lauer, sixth; ABC's Peter Jennings, seventh; NBC's Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams, tied for eighth; Fox's Brit Hume, 9; and NBC's Lester Holt, 10.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.