A major Jewish civil rights group has come to Tony Dokoupil’s defense after the “CBS Mornings” anchor’s bosses discovered he had an “ax to grind.” Tough interview with controversial author Ta-Nehisi CoatesThe post revealed.
Anti-Defamation League national director Jonathan Greenblatt contacted CBS News chief Wendy McMahon on Monday after it was reported that Dokopil was reprimanded on his interview with Coats last week, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Insiders said the move to discipline Dokoupil came after an investigation by the network’s diversity and inclusion department. Sources said that several CBS employees also complained to their bosses that their questioning of Coats was too biased in favor of Israel.
According to a leaked recording of an editorial meeting, in response, CBS executives concluded that Dokoupil’s questioning indicated that he had the opportunity to “chop the axe”, and that he “did not put aside his personal feelings and beliefs”. “.
Now, the ADL is worried that Dokoupil could lose his job for pressuring Coates over his far-left views about Israel in his latest book. Ali Zelenko, the ADL’s senior vice president of foreign affairs, was scheduled to speak with McMahon on Tuesday, according to sources.
In an interview with The Post, Greenblatt confirmed that he spoke with McMahon on Monday, and made the organization’s position clear: Dokopil does some good in challenging Coats’s “one-sided” views about the Israel–Palestinian conflict. Didn’t do anything wrong either.
Greenblatt said, “I just wanted to know what Dokoupil did wrong by questioning Coates’s conclusions.” “And we’re continuing to ask those questions.”
Greenblatt said he also told McMahon that reprimanding Dokoupil in the company-wide setting was “highly insensitive”, especially on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre.
Greenblatt declined to comment on McMahon’s response and said the conversation was off the record.
Press officials at CBS and its parent company Paramount Global did not respond to multiple telephone calls and emails seeking comment.
The Post has learned that CBS’s new owner, the independent studio known as Skydance, run by David Ellison, best known for creating the mega-hit “Top Gun: Maverick,” is demanding answers.
Ellison’s team recently reached a deal with parent CBS, Paramount and the controlling Redstone family acquired the company.This deal worth $28 billion is going to be completed next year.
Ellison’s father is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who helped finance the transaction with private equity firm Redbird Capital. The right-leaning billionaire is also a longtime supporter of Israel and a friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Redbird partner and former NBCU chief Jeff Shell will be in charge of CBS and has been informed about the controversies surrounding Dokoupil, sources said.
A Skydance spokesperson had no comment.
Last Monday on “CBS Mornings,” Dokoupil, who is Jewish, questioned Coates on the conclusions of his new book, “The Message,” that Israel is a state “based on ethnicity” and “apartheid.”
During the interview, Dokoupil also asked Coats whether Palestinians deserve any blame for the ongoing conflict, including the October 7 massacre.
Coates, who is Black, is a Pulitzer Prize winner known for his controversial writing on racial issues, including calling for reparations for slavery.
Critics of “The Message” have condemned the book for poor scholarship on the roots of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and claim that it essentially calls for the abolition of the Jewish state.
