CBS melts down after anchor practices actual journalism
CBS News is attempting to reeducate one of its anchors after he performed a bit of journalism.
A one-track mind
CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil caused a scandal after he pushed back on author Ta-Nehisi Coates during an interview Monday. Coates, who specializes in writing about black victimhood, was on CBS to promote his new anti-Israel book that similarly paints Palestinians as perpetual victims. The book criticizes Jews for having a state and compares them to white men, whom Coates believes are natural oppressors.
“For as sure as my ancestors were born into a country where none of them was the equal of any white man, Israel was revealing itself to be a country where no Palestinian is ever the equal of any Jewish person anywhere,” Coates writes in the book.
Forbidden journalism
In Monday’s interview with Coates, Dokoupil broke from mainstream media tradition and asked his guest challenging questions. The anchor asked, for example, why Coates had omitted basic facts about Israel and the Middle East region.
“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 queried.
“I am most concerned, always, with those who don’t have a voice,” Coates told Dokoupil, even though the pro-Palestine narrative is dominant in academia, mainstream media, global policy, and much of the corporate world.
Dokoupil also asked Coates: “What is it that so particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state that is a Jewish safe place?”
“There’s nothing that offends me about a Jewish state; I am offended by the idea of states built on ethnocracy, no matter where they are,” Coates replied. He notably took no issue with any of the dozens of ethnocratic Islamic countries.
“I have to say, when I read the book, I imagine if I took your name out of it, took away the awards, the acclaim, took the cover off the book, publishing house goes away, the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” Dokoupil also said.
Scolded and reeducated
Although the interview was civil and even ended on a light note according to the New York Times, Dokoupil was reprimanded and scolded. After CBS personnel complained, the network’s bosses slammed Dokoupil for supposedly not being impartial. These included CBS News and Stations president and CEO Wendy McMahon, as well as Editorial and News Gathering President Adrienne Roark.
Dokoupil was forced to undergo a reeducation course from the network’s Race and Culture Unit, which polices content to ensure it complies with woke messaging. They were joined by the CBS News Standards and Practices team, and together they analyzed Dokoupil’s “tone of voice, phrasing and body language” during the interview.
After the meeting, Dokoupil apologized to staffers saying he “regretted putting his colleagues in that position especially the ones overseas and in danger.” According to the New York Post, staff members were very “troubled” that Dokoupil had challenged Coates, with some even weeping from anger.
“There were tears. [People were] very upset,” an insider said.
‘As journalists we are obligated to challenge’
On a call Monday, Roarke told other executives: “After a review of our coverage, including the interview, it’s clear that there are times we have not met our editorial standards.”
The network’s Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford spoke up and asked Roarke how Dokuopil had not met editorial standards.
“When someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges that he has, it’s my understanding that as journalists we are obligated to challenge that worldview so that our viewers can have that access to the truth or a fuller account,” Crawford said. “To me, that is what Tony did.”
“What is the objective standard for the rest of us when we are doing our own interviews?” she asked.
“I appreciate you bringing this up. I know this is a lot for everybody to process,” Roarke replied before telling Crawford she would follow after the call.
As The Daily Wire notes, CBS only appears to apply this sudden standard of “impartiality” to pro-Israel questioning. The network had no issue, for example, when Dokoupil’s co-host Gayle King lectured the father of an eight-year-old Israeli hostage held by Hamas to be more sympathetic toward Palestinians.
