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There were three major stories vying for attention: one on the west coast, one on the east coast, and one on Capitol Hill. All three warranted coverage by a correspondent on all three newscasts. The confirmation hearings in the Senate Intelligence Committee for John Brennan, nominated to be the next CIA Director, were not picked to be the lead on any newscast. On the east coast, New England is bracing for a blizzard: storm preparations kicked off the newscasts from both NBC and CBS. On the west coast, ABC led with an apparent murder plot by one of its own former officers against the Los Angeles Police Department itself. With three already dead, the LAPD manhunt for Christopher Dorner was Story of the Day.

The breaking news reporting from LAPD headquarters was delivered by NBC's Miguel Almaguer, ABC's David Wright, and CBS' Ben Tracy. ABC's Nick Watt consulted Dr Howard Askins, a forensic psychologist, to offer his interpretation of the revenge manifesto apparently posted online by Dorner. At CBS, revolving-door reporter-turned-cop-turned-reporter John Miller detailed the training Dorner received from the LAPD, including intelligence and heavy weaponry and urban warfare tactics. How did Miller know? Because he was part of the LAPD brass at the time.

All three newscasts offered the same combo on the blizzard: a reporter in the field in New England, plus a meteorologist's forecast. ABC slapped a gaudy eXtreme Weather-Team logo on Ginger Zee's efforts, perched on a ridge under a mountain of road salt. CBS was the most relaxed, assigning Terrell Brown to look on the bright side for Massachusetts' ski resorts. NBC's Ron Mott hung out amid the snow shovels at Home Depot: catch Mott's reminder of John Chancellor's Nightly News diction from 1978.

As for soon-to-be top spook John Brennan, none of the three correspondents covering his hearings could bring themselves to utter the T-word. NBC's Andrea Mitchell managed "harsh interrogations" and "enhanced techniques" as the lead element of her package. CBS' Bob Orr used the acronym EITs and "harsh tactics." On ABC, Jonathan Karl did not even bother to include the question of interrogation in his report. And those targeted killings by CIA drones? Michael Isikoff, whose Exclusive on NBC Tuesday brought that story onto the news agenda, sniffed that the word drone never left Brennan's lips.
Andrew Tyndall 2/8/13 6:23:47 pm

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