Israel Interview Triggers Infighting At CBS News

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. However, The Wall Street Journal reports 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.

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.

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.