How The Evening Newscasts Covered the Tea Parties

• NBC Nightly News led with two stories on tax day. Lee Cowan reported on the tea parties while Savannah Guthrie reported on the White House message of middle class tax cuts. In his open, Brian Williams said the tea parties were, “organized on the Internet and by some cable TV personalities.”

• ABC’s World News made it the third story. First a soundbite from Pres. Obama and a Dan Harris story on the tea parties which were, “cheered on by Fox News and talk radio,” Harris explained. The Charles Gibson broadcast led with two stories on the pirate attacks – Jim Sciutto in Kenya with the crew of the Maersk Alabama and David Muir with a story on the attack of another U.S. ship.

• CBS Evening News led with tax day – a soundbite from Pres. Obama, a live picture of a rally in Arlington, Texas and a tea party story from Dean Reynolds. Reynolds referenced, “a fistful of right-ward leaning Websites and commentators…embraced the cause,” while showing Neil Cavuto and Glenn Beck at two different rallies.

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