MESSAGE
| DATE | 2024-10-09 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] NOrmalizing Anti-Semetic bigotry at CBS
|
CBS Interview on Israel Triggers Fight at Network; Shari Redstone Weighs
In
Critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates book prompts turmoil as Paramount’s
controlling shareholder objects to how network handled matter
By Joe Flint
and Jessica Toonkel
Updated Oct. 8, 2024 4:28 pm ET
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks with CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil, in tie,
about Coates’s new book.
A CBS morning-show interview about Israel with author Ta-Nehisi Coates
has triggered turmoil inside the network, with executives saying it
failed to meet their standards and some staffers saying management came
down hard on an anchor who was doing his job.
In the interview, which aired on Sept. 30, anchor Tony Dokoupil opened
by stating that the content in Coates’s new book “The Message,” which is
critical of Israel, “would not be out of place in the backpack of an
extremist.”
Dokoupil deviated from the plan for the interview with his sharp
critique of Coates’s book, people familiar with the matter said. The
incident is one of several that led management to criticize Dokoupil’s
work—without naming him directly—during a staff meeting on Monday,
people familiar with the matter said.
While the network planned a tough interview, CBS’s race and culture unit
has expressed concern that Dokoupil’s tone and phrasing gave a
perception that he was biased, a person close to the matter said.
Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS parent Paramount
Global, conveyed to CBS executives that she disagreed with how the
situation was handled and that she didn’t believe the interview violated
editorial standards, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Redstone, who spends time speaking out against antisemitism, has told
people that it was insensitive for CBS News to address the matter on
Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.
Coates’s new book, ‘The Message,’ is critical of Israel. Photo:
Associated Press
Other elements of the questioning by Dokoupil, such as when he said
Coates failed to include important historical context, also weren’t part
of the preplanning for the interview.
“Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to
eliminate it? Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that
want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil asked. “Is it because you just don’t
believe that Israel in any condition has a right to exist?”
“There is no shortage of that perspective in American media,” Coates
replied.
Dokoupil, whose former wife and children live in Israel, is expected to
address the issue with the morning-show team.
As in many newsrooms, tensions over coverage of the Middle East have
been high inside CBS News, current and former staffers said.
After the interview, several dozen CBS staffers raised questions about
Dokoupil’s handling of the segment to CBS News President Wendy McMahon
and Adrienne Roark, head of newsgathering and editorial manager, a
person familiar with the situation said.
Inside CBS, tensions over the interview mounted throughout the past week
and weekend. In Monday’s editorial meeting, CBS executives addressed the
matter without calling out Dokoupil by name.
“This goes way beyond one interview, one comment, one story. This is
about preserving the legacy of neutrality and objectivity that is CBS
News,” Roark said, according to a person familiar with the meeting.
Roark added that the network will still report objectively and ask tough
questions but, “we have to check our bias and opinions at the door.”
Soon after the meeting ended, the publication the Free Press posted
audio from it in an article titled, “How Is CBS Marking October 7? By
Admonishing Tony Dokoupil.”
Some executives and staffers were also concerned that Dokoupil, in their
view, monopolized the conversation. Co-host Gayle King was set to ask
Coates about Hamas’s role in the conflict with Israel. She and Nate
Burleson, the morning show’s third host, were mostly sidelined during
the Dokoupil-Coates discussion.
During an interview on Trevor Noah’s podcast, Coates said King’s copy of
his book was full of handwritten notes and that she told him what she
planned to ask about.
It isn’t unheard of for an anchor to go off script or speak in
passionate terms about an issue in the news. King made pointed comments
during a May 2020 broadcast about a woman in New York City’s Central
Park who called police, falsely claiming she was being threatened by a
black male. That story came days after the George Floyd killing by
police, leading King to remark that “sometimes it’s not a safe place to
be in this country for Black men.” King has also been outspoken on
issues such as guns and abortion.
‘CBS Mornings’ co-host Gayle King has been outspoken about issues in the
news. Photo: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
There were two other segments involving Dokoupil from the Sept. 30
broadcast that some CBS executives and staffers weren’t pleased with,
people familiar with the matter said.
In one, Dokoupil wrapped up a report from CBS foreign correspondent
Imtiaz Tyab that raised eyebrows among network staffers and leadership,
the people said.
Tyab was filing a report from Beirut on Israel’s airstrikes and its
assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and commenting on the
increased violence in the area. Tyab closed with: “Israel is preparing
for some kind of ground invasion, something that has the potential of
being far deadlier than anything we’ve seen so far.”
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Dokoupil then commented that, “If Hezbollah thought that Israel was
going to
graciously take a year full of rockets, Hezbollah miscalculated.” Tyab
could be seen looking displeased with the remark as his camera went off.
Last Monday’s broadcast wasn’t the first time CBS News staffers raised
questions about Dokoupil. Last April, in a report about a
pro-Palestinian student not being allowed to deliver her valedictorian
address, Dokoupil set off some alarm bells when he said there is a
“bigger question about what is acceptable public speech.”
In an email to staff on Monday night, “CBS Mornings” executive producer
Shawna Thomas said staffers wouldn’t be able to attend Tuesday’s
morning-show editorial meeting from home via video call, an effort to
curb leaks.
—Isabella Simonetti contributed to this article.
Write to Joe Flint at Joe.Flint-at-wsj.com and Jessica Toonkel at
jessica.toonkel-at-wsj.com
Appeared in the October 9, 2024, print edition as 'Interview Over Israel
Sparks CBS Furor'.
--
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