Andrea Mitchell Logs Most Face Time During the '00s

NBC News reporter Andrea Mitchell is now making headlines of her own.

According to the AP, out of all the network evening news reporters, Mitchell clocked in the most minutes on camera during the last decade. Her total: a staggering 2,416 minutes.

Robert Bazell, also of NBC, finished in second, with 2,328 minutes.NBC News reporter Andrea Mitchell is now making headlines of her own.

According to the AP, out of all the network evening news reporters, Mitchell clocked in the most minutes on camera during the last decade. Her total: a staggering 2,416 minutes.

Robert Bazell, also of NBC, finished in second, with 2,328 minutes.

"It's very cool," Mitchell told AOL TV in an exclusive interview. "The bottom line is that this is a team effort, and I have terrific producers and editors and camera people, with whom I've worked with for all of these years, and colleagues."

"One of the interesting things about this measure is that it focuses on the evening news," she added. "And what I'm also proud about, which doesn't get measured in the same way, is all the 'Today' show coverage we've done, and MSNBC, as cable becomes a bigger and bigger part of what we do. The fact that I've had my own show for the past two years, and have traveled the world with Hillary Clinton, going live in different time zones, from all of these places, on MSNBC with my show at 1 o'clock, that means a lot to me."

Mitchell's career with NBC dates back to 1978, when she first signed on as a general correspondent. The following year, she was named the network's Energy correspondent.

She continued to find success in the '80s, and by 1988 she was named Chief Congressional Correspondent. That same year, Mitchell revealed that George H. Bush had selected Dan Quayle to be his running mate -- a similar scoop she would repeat in 2004, with John Kerry and John Edwards.

In this clip from 1987, Mitchell reflects on the news stories she covered during the year:



The '90s brought more face time -- and titles -- for Mitchell. In 1992, she was named NBC's Chief White House Correspondent; two years later, she was upped to Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, a position she's held to this day. And in a sign that Mitchell actually spends time away from the camera, she married Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, in 1997 (although these days, Mitchell says she gets very little sleep. "I confess that I never turn off the Blackberry," she said).

In the last decade, Mitchell was there to report on all of the major breaking stories, including the 2000 election, during which she hosted 'The Mitchell Report.' She also covered Hillary Clinton's 2000 senate campaign and, in 2003, MSNBC aired a documentary featuring Mitchell's exclusive interviews with Fidel Castro.


In 2008, Mitchell was back on the election trail, covering every angle, including an unexpectedly funny stint at the 2008 Republican National Convention. In this two-minute clip, watch as she gets caught in a never-ending storm of balloons, prompting colleague Tom Brokaw to give her the nickname Andrea "Boom Boom" Mitchell.



"Anytime Tom Brokaw calls you 'Boom Boom' Mitchell, it's gonna stick," Mitchell said, recalling the incident. "And watching the way he and Brian [Williams] reacted after I watched the tapes, because of course I didn't seen anything from then, it was actually claustrophobic. It was funny, but there was a little bit of panic, because I was having trouble seeing and breathing because the balloons were really coming down even faster and more furiously than was visible, when you're 5'3" and you're standing in the middle of all these balloons [laughs]."

But of all the events she covered during the last decade, Mitchell said she remembers 9/11 the most. "It changed our world, and it completely reshaped the way we live, what we do as journalists, what we do as citizens. It led to two wars ... and it's probably the most searing -- it was the most searing -- personal experience I've had," she said.

Of the stories that she wished she had covered in her career, she cited two. "Over the years, I really wish I had been in South Africa for [Nelson] Mandela's release from prison, or for his inauguration as president."

These days, Mitchell is the host of 'Andrea Mitchell Reports,' an hourlong news program that airs weekdays at 1PM on MSNBC. At 63, she remains busier than ever ("The world is just so exciting, the political developments here and around the world. I'm constantly learning things, trying to improve my reporting and the way we tell stories," she said), and she's reached a point in her profession in which women are now making major headway; of the three nightly news programs, two are anchored by women: CBS' 'Evening News With Katie Couric' and ABC's 'World News' with Diane Sawyer. However, don't expect Mitchell to make a run for Brian Williams' chair anytime soon.

"That's not what I do. That's a completely different skill set, and I love reporting and digging, and I love having my cable program, which is an hour that is so unscripted, and lively and instantly changeable as news is breaking. It's a different kind of journalism. And what I like to do in 'Nightly News' is contribute political coverage, and foreign policy coverage and occasional features ... Just being part of the team is what I enjoy."

Still, Mitchell says that she's pleased with how far women have come. "I think it's terrific," she said. "I mean, I think we have the best anchor, bar none, but I'm glad to see women now getting the opportunity to take the chair; and we have Ann Curry and others on our own network who are wonderful alternates to Brian. Women just have so much to contribute, and are having much better experiences now than when I started. When I started, women were not given very many opportunities at all."

Given the amount of time she's spent on-camera, does Mitchell get recognized in public? "I think we all do," she said, "because that's the nature of television. It's very nice, because people are generally really pleasant and I have wonderful conversations with people, whom I would otherwise not get to meet, at airports and supermarkets."

As for what's in store for Mitchel in the next decade, we asked her to predict how many minutes she'll clock in.

"[laughs] I don't know if I can predict that. If the world remains as gripped by security threats, terror and and war, I suspect it's gonna be a lot; I fear it'll be a lot. And as cable expands, maybe we'll be able to do it from home"