Thursday saw an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with the House passing a bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), capping 76 days of tumult for government employees in agencies such as the Coast Guard, TSA, and Secret Service. But on the lead network evening newscasts, a Media Research Center analysis found only five percent of their shutdown coverage blamed Democrats for opposing any further funding of deportations. MRC analysts scanned every mention of the partial government shutdown and the public consequences between February 14 and April 30 on ABC’s World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News. Only 21 out of the 76 days included at least one newscast mentioning Democrat demands. Most concerning and glaring was the fact that, in the five days following the April 25 attempted assassination of President Trump and members of his cabinet at the White House Correspondents Dinner, there was not a single mention of the fact that Secret Services, TSA, and other agencies involved were there under financial duress. CBS saw the biggest plummet from the first study on March 16, going from 10 percent of its coverage blaming Democrats to its final tally of about four percent, or two minutes out of 53 minutes and 24 seconds. Here’s a video of the five new mentions: In my latest NewsBusters study, I tallied up the network evening news coverage of the DHS shutdown that finally ended on April 30 and what percentage mentioned Democrats were the cause of it by refusing to fund President Trump’s deportation agenda. The ‘CBS Evening News’ spent… pic.twitter.com/9MRInqaAek — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 4, 2026 “Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security unless Republicans agree to changes in immigration enforcement. Guess who is caught in the middle? 50,000 TSA officers,” CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil declared off the top of the March 17 Evening News. Even though correspondent Skyler Henry correctly noted on March 22 the shutdown was “triggered by Democrat outrage at ICE tactics in Minneapolis” and demands that “officers unmask and wear IDs,” fellow correspondent Cristian Benavides painted President Trump’s rhetoric as an obstacle to funding because he was “using social media to call the Democrats ‘lunatics’ and ‘unreasonable.’” CBS’s final mention of Democrats being to blame came way back on March 29 as correspondent Jason Allen declared: “Democrats are saying they’re not going to agree to any proposal that doesn’t also include significant reforms to ICE.” Here was how the CBS Evening News told its viewers on April 30 the impasse ended following a month of silence about the issue, one of 13 instances when the word “Democrats” never came up in their shutdown coverage (click “expand”): DOKOUPIL: And Ed, the homeland security shutdown is over after nearly 80 days. What was the breakthrough? ED O’KEEFE: That’s right. Most of it is over. The White House essentially told House Republicans to pass the bill the Senate had passed five weeks ago, and with paychecks running out this week, they did. The pressure was building because the Coast Guard commandant had warned in an interview with CBS News his agency’s funding was set to run out tomorrow. The TSA was losing officers. More than 1,100 quit during the shutdown, so now most of DHS is fully reopened, but the underlying disagreements about immigration policy remain unsolved and funding is still cut to immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Customs and Border Protection agencies. Tony, Republicans say they will sort that out in the coming weeks. ABC’s World News Tonight also saw a precipitous decline as it went from nine percent of coverage tagging Democrats to seven percent — or three minutes and four seconds out of 46 minutes and eight seconds overall — in this final tally. Between our first study on the morning of March 16 and the evening of April 30, ABC mentioned Democrats nine times, but sought to blame both parties. For example, here was senior national correspondent Steve Osunsami on March 19: “The deadlock in Washington started 34 days ago and this week the White House and Democrats in Congress traded offers to end it, but so far no deal...But with the workers telling us what they need is for Democrats and Republicans to get it together and start paying them again.” White House correspondent Selina Wang seemed to not only admit two days later Democrats were the cause of the chaos, but stood by them as she boasted “Democrats [are] holding firm, saying any deal needs reforms to Trump’s immigration enforcement policy” and that the President deploying ICE agents to airports “only hardens their resolve[.]” Congressional Jay O’Brien struck a similar tone a day later on March 22: “Remember, Democrats are holding firm. They’re refusing to vote to fund DHS without reforms to ICE. And Democrats have tried to numerous, piecemeal attempts fund agencies[.]” On March 27’s World News Tonight, senior political correspondent Rachel Scott gave away the game: “Democrats hoped the partial government shutdown would pressure Republicans to reform immigration enforcement after federal officers killed protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. That didn’t happen. The Senate deal left the door open for more negotiation.” ABC was radio silent on the plight of government workers from March 30 until April 30 when anchor David Muir tucked in 19-second brief the shutdown was suddenly over: Tonight, House lawmakers voting to fund the Department of Homeland Security, ending the 76 day partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. The House passing the Senate-approved bill funding most of Homeland Security's operations, including the Secret Service, FEMA and TSA. The bill does not give additional funding to ice. President Trump is expected to sign the bill. Going finally to NBC Nightly News, their tally inched up a single percentage point from three percent in our first study to four percent, which translated to 101 seconds out of 38 minutes and five seconds of shutdown coverage (and was also the lowest of the networks). Senior correspondent Tom Costello shifted blame to Republicans instead of Democrats, arguing on March 16 the GOP wouldn’t acquiesce to “changes to ICE procedures after two Americans were killed in Minneapolis.” One day later, he huffed “both” parties “want to fund Homeland Security,” yet “Republicans object to Democratic demands[.]” On March 21, correspondent Valerie Castro also painted Democrats as the good guys: “An attempt by Senate Democrats to advance a bill funding just TSA...failing to secure enough votes today.” In contrast, correspondent Julie Tsirkin went in a different direction on the March 22 Nightly News: “For 37 days, Democrats have blocked funding to the Department of Homeland Security because of the administration’s immigration crackdown.” Her Capitol Hill colleague Ryan Nobles similarly went down this road, pointing out “Democrats have said no” to GOP proposals and even pressing Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) in a hallway about her party’s refusal to reopen the government. But in the last Democrat mention on March 30, correspondent Priscilla Thompson placed Democrats in the right: “House Republicans on Friday rejected a bipartisan Senate deal to fund all of DHS except for ICE and Customs and Border Protection.” NBC had last mentioned the shutdown on April 4 before anchor Tom Llamas announced the end on April 30 in a two-sentence news brief: “We have more news out of Washington tonight. President Trump signing a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a surprise breakthrough on Capitol Hill, bringing an end to the record-long partial government shutdown.” When Americans are polled on which party is to blame for government shutdowns, Republicans have consistently been identified as the culprit, regardless of whether they occupy the White House or have a congressional majority. But when the elite media spent such an infinitesimal amount of time during this most recent shutdown highlighting the basic facts of why hundreds of thousands of American workers went months without pay, it’s easy to see why Americans resort to an answer the press have molded and shaped for decades: It’s the GOP’s fault.