How does CBS mark October 7th? Through the admonition of Tony Dokoupil

Last week, CBS journalist Tony Dokoupil conducted an interview with writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose new book The messagecontains a one-sided polemic against Israel. Coates himself describes his book as an attempt to expose the complexity with which journalists obscure the Israeli occupation. He complained in an interview with new York The argument that the conflict was “complicated” was “nonsense,” said Magazin magazine. This is how defenders of slavery and segregation described these plagues a century ago. “It’s complicated,” he said, “when you want to take something away from someone.”

So Dokoupil asked him about it.

“Why ignore the fact that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to destroy it?”

“Why ignore the fact that Israel is dealing with terrorist groups that want to destroy it?”

“Why not go into more detail about the first and second intifada?. . . the cafe bombings, the bus bombings, the little children being torn to pieces?”

In other words: Tony Dokoupil did his job.

That's where his problems began.

One might think that journalism is about respectfully challenging a source that presents misinformation or an image that is so limited that it obscures the truth. That's exactly what CBS does after school shootings or when reporting on bans on critical race theory in local school districts.

But on this issue – or perhaps it's this particular author – honesty and integrity have now become an unforgivable act of editorial misconduct. At least that's what CBS News is telling its own employees when it comes to Dokoupil's Sept. 30 interview with Coates.

During the editorial meeting on Monday at 9 a.m. – the morning of October 7 – the network's top brass all but apologized for the interview with employees, saying it did not meet the company's “editorial standards.” After an introduction by Wendy McMahon, CBS News director, Adrienne Roark, the network's newsgathering manager, began her remarks by saying: Covering a story like Oct. 7 “requires empathy, respect and commitment to the truth.” ”

After quoting extensively from the CBS News handbook, she said, “We will continue to ask tough questions.” We will continue to hold people accountable. But we will do this objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door.”

“We are here to spread the news without fear or favor,” Roark added. “There are times when we let our audiences and each other down. We are in one of those times right now, and it is increasing. And we are at a turning point. Many of you have contacted us to express concerns about recent reporting. Specifically about the CBS Morning Coates interview last week, as well as comments from reporting from some of our correspondents.

“I want to acknowledge and apologize that it has taken so long to have this conversation.

“This goes far beyond an interview, a comment, a story. “This is about preserving the legacy of neutrality and objectivity that is CBS News,” she said. “We want every trade fair to be a place for courageous and courageous conversations and discussions.”

Listen to McMahon and Roark's comments on the call here:

Roark, of course, spoke about Dokoupil's interview with Coates, suggesting that his interview somehow called into question the network's “legacy of neutrality and objectivity.”

Not everyone bought it. CBS reporter Jan Crawford, who has been CBS's chief legal correspondent since 2009, rushed to Dokoupil's defense.

“It sounds like we're criticizing one of our moderators in a somewhat public setting on this call for not following editorial standards, I don't even know for what,” she said. “I thought our commitment was to the truth. And when someone comes to our show with a one-sided portrayal of a very complex situation, as Coates himself admits, I understand that we as journalists have an obligation to challenge that worldview so that our viewers have access to the truth or a more complete portrayal, a more balanced presentation. And that’s exactly what Tony did for me.”

Crawford continued: “Tony prevented our network from airing a one-sided report that was completely devoid of history or facts.” As someone who does a lot of interviews, I'm not sure how to handle challenging viewpoints which are obviously one-sided and devoid of facts and history.”

Listen to Jan Crawford's comments here:

An industry source said Crawford had “balls of steel” and was “one of the most respected journalists at CBS.” He added: “It's a shame that management didn't answer their question in front of the entire group during the call.”

But in an American newsroom, saying what is obviously true shouldn't take courage.

Keep in mind that this editorial meeting took place on the first anniversary of Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th. The harshest thing Dokoupil said in his interview with Coates was: “If I take your name out, take away the awards and the acclaim, take the cover away from the book, the publisher disappears – the contents of this section would not be in an extremist's backpack out of place.”

That's putting it mildly. As our own Coleman Hughes wrote in his review of Coates' book, “It doesn't even mention the word Hamas-or Fatahor Palestinian Islamic Jihador Hezbollahor Iran-once. In his opinion, the threats do not exist, only the barriers that Israel erects to contain them.”

We assume that this has the advantage of avoiding complexity. But this simplistic portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict leaves out so much complicated history that it is nothing more than a lie. It would be like writing a book about the Civil War blaming the Union for the war without ever mentioning slavery.

CBS' double standards are also notable. This is where Gayle King was on May 26, 2020, after news broke that George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers. “I'm speechless. I'm really, really speechless about what we're seeing on TV this morning. To me it feels like open season… and sometimes it's not a safe place for black men in this country,” she said, holding back tears.

In King’s case — on the topics of wokeism, racism, Black Lives Matter and gun rights — her “lived experience” is an asset to the newsroom. Just as it should be. But for Dokoupil, his experience as a father of Jewish children living in Israel has no place in an interview with an author offering his cartoonish indictment of the world's only Jewish state.

The sad truth is that Coates doesn't speak truth to power. He repeats the new consensus of the powerful. One can find more sophisticated versions of The message in the course catalogs of Ivy League universities, the editorial pages of leading newspapers and in the reports of financially powerful NGOs.

It is journalists like Tony Dokoupil, an endangered species in legacy news organizations, who are succumbing to the pressures of this new elite consensus.

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