*CBS executives reportedly reprimanded morning show anchor Tony Dokoupil for his tough questioning of author Ta-Nehisi Coates regarding the latter’s pro-Palestinian stance amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
This incident caused concern among staff about the network’s commitment to journalistic integrity, Puck News and Bari Weiss’ Free Press reported. CBS News leaders Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark noted that Dokoupil displayed bias during the interview, which aired last week. They stated that the discussion failed to adhere to the network’s standards for neutrality.
“We will still hold people accountable. But we will do so objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door,” Roark said, New York Post reports. “We are here to report news without fear or favor.”
“I don’t even understand how Tony’s interview failed to meet our editorial standards … I thought our commitment was to truth,” CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford was quoted as saying by Puck.
She added, “When someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of very complex situation — which Coates himself acknowledges that he has — it’s my understanding that as a journalist, we are obligated to challenge that worldview, so that our viewers can have access to the truth and can have a more balanced account.”
Dokoupil interviewed Coates about his new book “The Message,” leading to a contentious exchange. The discussion focused on whether Coates’ writing conveyed hostility toward Israel.
“Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil asked, adding; “Why not detail anything of the First and the Second Intifada, the cafe bombings, the bus bombings, the little kids blown to bits? And is it because you just don’t believe that Israel in any condition has a right to exist?”
One CBS source told The Post: “This is more a failure of CBS News not reading books and evaluating if they should be promoting them.
“I think Tony did what every good journalist is supposed to do — make sure that both sides are represented in a discussion.”
In a preview for the upcoming episode of the What Now? with Trevor Noah podcast, Coates shared his perspective on his interview with Dokoupil. Coates noted that he anticipated the backlash he would receive regarding “The Message.”
“I have been in this, in terms of the research and the writing, you know, over a year now, and I guess how much, the extent to which Palestinians have been pushed out of the frame… I knew this was coming,” Coates said.
He added, “I figured at some point it was gonna be a fight. You know, I didn’t know it was gonna be right then, but I figured at some point it was gonna be a fight.”
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