Shari Redstone, president of CBS parent Paramount Global, slammed the Tiffany network for censuring “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil after his heated interview about Israel with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Docopyil was done CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and her lieutenant Adrienne Roark were reprimanded at a staff meeting on Monday He brought his own “bias” to the interview with Coats, who denounced Israel as an “apartheid” state in his new book “The Message.”
In a September 30 interview, Dokoupil commented that the book “wouldn’t be out of place in an extremist’s backpack,” and asked Coates if he believed Israel had a right to exist.
“I obviously think Tony did a great job in that interview,” Redstone said Wednesday at Adweek’s annual conference in Midtown New York. “I was very proud of the work they did. Yes, as hard as it was for me to go against this company, I think they made a mistake here.
According to leaked audio reported by the Free Press, Roark, president of content development for the news division, said Dokoupil’s interview did not meet CBS News’ “editorial standards” for impartiality.
“I just want to make it clear that I’m working with the CEO,” Redstone said. “I’m working with the woman who does our diversity training, and I think we all agree that this was not handled correctly, and we all agree that something needs to be done. You know, I don’t have editorial control. I’m not an executive, but I have a voice on our platform like all of us.”
CBS News did not respond to requests for comment.
“I’m glad there is a wall between ownership and editorial,” said a source close to the network, claiming that Dokoupil’s bias has come to the fore in other areas related to the Israel–Hamas war.
This included a September 30 broadcast on Israeli airstrikes and the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in which Dokoupil commented: “If Hezbollah thought Israel was going to have a year full of rockets, Hezbollah miscalculated. “
Dokopil is not the only anchor to editorialize. In a May 2020 segment about a woman in New York City’s Central Park who falsely claimed to police that she was being threatened by a black male, King said, “Sometimes black men in this country This is not a safe place for.”
Redstone’s comments come a day after Dokoupil met with angry “CBS Mornings” staffers in an emotional private meeting led by executive producer Shawna Thomas.
As reported by The Post, Dokoupil “expressed his regret” about the situation. But he did not “apologize” for the way he asked the question.
A source who attended the meeting told The Post that when Dokoupil discussed it with his colleagues, he did not back down and, at the end of the tear-filled conversation, it was a situation of “agree to disagree.”
Dokopil, a convert for judaism Whose ex-wife lives in Israel with their two childrenDuring the interview Coates was asked why he did not include more pro-Israel voices in his work or noted that “little children” [were] Palestinians torn to pieces in terrorist attacks.
Coats replied that the Israeli narrative was well represented in the American mainstream press and that some Palestinian voices had a chance to be heard.
In the days before Tuesday’s meeting, “CBS Mornings” staffers complained to the network’s top executives about the journalist’s behavior with Coates, leading McMahon and Roark to condemn Dokoupil’s interview, sources told The Times. Told the Post.
The Free Press Posted Audio of Monday’s meeting, which also included CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford, was leaked Condemning officers’ statements in front of employees,
Crawford said, “It feels like we’re calling out one of our anchors in a somewhat public setting for failing to meet editorial standards that I don’t even know about.”
“I thought our commitment was to the truth. And when someone comes to our broadcasts with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself has acknowledged he has done, my sense is that as journalists we are obligated to challenge that worldview. So that our viewers can access it. The true or complete account, the more balanced account. And, for me, that’s what Tony did.”
On Monday, Redstone expressed his displeasure behind the scenes with how officials handled the situation, saying it was insensitive to address the issue, The Wall Street Journal reported,
Ironically, Redstone, who is Jewish, was at Adweek’s New York conference to speak about the power of content to fight anti-Semitism and racism.
The heiress, who struck a deal to sell her media empire to Skydance earlier this year, is joined by Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who expressed his concerns to McMahon About Dokopil’s treatment, The Post reported Tuesday.
CBS News was planning to call DEI consultant Dr. Donald Grant to lead a Tuesday discussion with staff.
But Grant’s own controversial views The revelations were made by The Post, which also included a social media post by a self-proclaimed “mental health expert” changed cover In Harriet Beecher Stowe’s classic novel about slavery, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” — the face of Donald Trump-supporting South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is digitally superimposed over the images of several other characters.
The post on Grant’s Instagram account, which he posted earlier this year, was changed to “Uncle Tim’s Cabin” and included an image of conservative commentator Candace Owens.
At the time, CBS News declined to comment. On The Post’s report on Grant’s InstagramOn Tuesday, Puck explained that the decision to bring in Grant was made amid the controversy that had angered critics, as well as Scott’s attempt to raise money using Grant’s photoshopped book covers.
Scott said, “If we let the radical and intolerant left win, the above hateful rhetoric is absolutely our future.” Written on fundraising platform Win Raid,
