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I suppose that pounding on the prospects of a radical Islamist regime as Mubarak's replacement was one way to crank up domestic American interest in internal Egyptian affairs. Another way was to check into the plight of ex-patriate American workers and visiting foreign tourists who happened to be caught up in the confrontations. All three newscasts sent a correspondent--ABC's Hasan, CBS' Logan, NBC's Holt--to Cairo Airport to check on the evacuation charter flights to Athens, Istanbul, and Nicosia being organized by the State Department. It was not much of a story: of the 75,000 US citizens registered with the embassy as being residents of Egypt, fewer than 2,500 were trying to leave. "A tiny fraction," CBS' Logan shrugged.
Another way to try to persuade Americans to take Egypt personally was to worry about what might happen to the price of oil if the Suez Canal happened to be blocked. Tankers from the Persian Gulf would be forced to take the long way round the Cape of Good Hope to American ports. On NBC, CNBC anchor Burnett reported that the cost of a barrel of crude might jump from $90 to $120 if the canal closed. ABC's Raddatz reported a much less alarming number--a dime extra on a gallon of gasoline.
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