CBS News reportedly called out morning show anchor Tony Dokoupil on Monday for his scathing takedown of author Ta-Nehisi Coates over the controversial author’s pro-Palestinian framing of Hamas’ war with Israel — sparking backlash in among staff on the network’s “commitment to truth.”
CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark, president of content development for the news division, claimed the “CBS Mornings” anchor brought up his bias in the Coates interview during a one-year anniversary staff meeting in October. 7 massacres, according to multiple reports.
They said the sit-down, conducted last week by Dokoupil and co-anchors Gayle King and Nate Burleson, did not meet editorial standards for impartiality — though they declined to provide any details, Bari Weiss’ Puck News and Free Press reported.
“We will still hold people accountable. But we’re going to do it objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door,” Roark said, according to media reports. “We’re here to report the news without fear or favor.”
The strong remark did not go down well with Dokopoul’s supporters, including CBS News Chief Legal Officer Jan Crawford.
“I don’t even understand how Tony’s interview failed to meet our editorial standards… I thought our commitment was to the truth,” Crawford was quoted as saying by Puck.
“When someone comes on our broadcast with a one-sided account of a very complex situation – which Coates himself admits he has – I understand that as journalists we have an obligation to challenge that worldview so that our viewers have access to the truth and there may be a more balanced account.”
Another CBS source told The Post: “This is more of a failure of CBS News not reading books and evaluating whether they should promote them.
“I think Tony did what any good journalist should do — make sure both sides are represented in a discussion.”
The Tiffany Network has now invited self-described “mental health expert, DEI strategist and trauma coach” Dr. Donald Grant to moderate a conversation during an all-staff meeting Tuesday, Puck reported.
CBS News and Dokoupil declined to comment.
Coates, a journalist and author who has written several books on race, appeared on the show to promote his latest book, “The Message,” which includes a first-hand account of his travels to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank .
In the book, Coates condemned what he called Israeli “apartheid” administration of the territories occupied in the 1967 Six Day War.
Dokoupil, a convert to Judaism whose ex-wife lives in Israel with their two children, took issue with Coates, saying the book “wouldn’t be out of place in an extremist’s backpack” for because of the characterization of Israel.
Dokoupil asked Coates why he didn’t include more pro-Israel voices or note in his work that “little children [were] blown to pieces” in Palestinian terror attacks.
“Is it because you simply don’t believe that Israel, under any circumstances, has a right to exist?” Dokoupil asked.
Coates responded that the Israeli narrative was well represented in the mainstream American press and that few Palestinian voices were being heard.
“I wrote a 260-page book,” Coates said.
“It is not a treaty on the totality of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.”
Dokoupil pushed Coates, saying his book “delegitimizes the pillars of Israel” in an attempt to “overturn its entire edifice.”
“What is it that particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state, which is a safe place for Jews, and not any of the other states out there?” said Dokoupil.
“There is nothing that offends me in a Jewish state,” Coates replied.
“I am offended by the idea of states built on ethnocracy, regardless of where they are.
Crawford praised Dokoupil for “the challenge[ing] Coates’ one-sided worldview” and then giving the author a chance to respond.
“It was civil … I don’t see how we can say it failed to meet our editorial standards,” Crawford is reported to have said.
She added that Dokoupil “prevented the broadcast on our network of a one-sided account of a deeply complex situation that was completely devoid of history or facts.
“As journalists, that’s what we have an obligation to do.”
Another CBS source said, “If they decide that the one-sided books are what they want to put on, maybe they should present the segments in a more comprehensive way.”
Weiss’ publication accused CBS News of having a “double standard” on sensitive issues, noting that the network did not reprimand Gayle King for her tearful comments following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
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