The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website August 10, 2018:
During President Barack Obama’s last full year in office, former White House press secretary Josh Earnest stayed busy. From Jan. 1, 2016, until Dec. 31 of that year, Earnest and his deputies held 143 press briefings and 45 less-formal press gaggles, running 11,826 minutes in total. That’s more than 197 hours — more than eight continuous days — in which Earnest or another administration official spoke to and answered questions from the press.
Over the last four months of the Obama administration alone, Earnest and his team spent about 2,803 minutes before the press in 41 briefings and gaggles.
That’s slightly more time than press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her team have spent with the press in the nearly 13 months she’s held that position.