As we recently reported, New York Magazine did a cover story on "The Return of Ta-Nehisi Coates." Coates had traveled to the Israel/Palestine region on a ten-day trip in the summer of 2023 and was told the situation there was complicated. "For Coates, the parallels with the Jim Crow South were obvious and immediate," New York reported.
CBS News interviewed Coates and said the interview did not meet editorial standards.
The Free Press reports:
Last week, CBS journalist Tony Dokoupil conducted an interview with the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates whose new book, The Message, includes a one-sided polemic against Israel. Coates himself describes his book as an effort to debunk the complexities journalists invoke to obscure Israel’s occupation. He complained in an interview with New York magazine that the argument that the conflict was “complicated” was “horseshit,” that was how defenders of slavery and segregation described these plagues a century ago. “It’s complicated,” he said, “when you want to take something from somebody.”
So Dokoupil asked him about it.
“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?”
“Why not detail anything of the first and second intifada. . . the cafe bombings, the bus bombings, the little kids blown to bits?”
In other words, Tony Dokoupil did his job.
That’s when his troubles began.
SCOOP / THREAD @PuckNews: CBS NEWS has been roiling after a CBS Mornings interview in which anchor Tony Dokoupil pressed Ta-Nehisi Coates over his pro-Palestinian framing of Israel-Palestine conflict. The interview was celebrated by many—"tense and substantive," per WaPo—but…
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024
… but angered some at CBS who felt Dokoupil brought his own bias (1/5)
This morning, on October 7, CBS News leaders Wendy McMahon & Adrienne Roark told staff that the interview did not meet editorial standards for impartiality, though they declined to elaborate on how or why. When they tried to move on, CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan…
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024
… Jan Crawford criticized the leaders for their decision, saying the following... (2/5)
Crawford: "I don't even understand how Tony's interview failed to meet our editorial standards... I thought our commitment was to truth. When someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of very complex situation—which Coates himself acknowledges that he has—it's my…
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024
… it's my understanding that as a journalist we are obligated to challenge that worldview, so that our viewers can have access to the truth and can have a more balanced account..." (3/5)
Crawford: "... And that is what Tony did. He challenged Coates' one-sided worldview, Coates got to respond. It was civil... I don't see how we can say that it failed to meet our editorial standards.... Tony prevented a one-sided account from being broadcast on our network about a…
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024
… about a deeply complex situation that completely was devoid of history or fact. As journalists, that's what we have an obligation to do." (4/5)
TL;DR: CBS NEWS says its Ta-Nehisi Coates interview "did not meet editorial standards," and not everyone at CBS is happy with leadership about that decision -- nor their decision to announce it on October 7 >> https://t.co/zlP6Ur5o8P
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024
Apparently, CBS News is going to have a safe-space meeting tomorrow so that CBS employees can process their emotions.
UPDATE: CBS News has invited self-described “mental health expert, DEI strategist and trauma trainer” Dr. Donald Grant to moderate conversation on this issue in an all-staff meeting tomorrow. https://t.co/joG8ixX9MV
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 7, 2024
"Trauma trainer."
CBS News just apologized for doing a journalism https://t.co/u45uUUfnP5
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 7, 2024
Good Lord. Who are these people?
— Allstare Grunwald (@AllstareGrunwld) October 7, 2024
Are they familiar with what a charlatan Coates is? Like make the slightest effort.
— JWF (@JammieWF) October 7, 2024
So they’re angry a journalist asked tough questions?
— Scotty2Hotty (@ItsTheRealScott) October 7, 2024
CBS treats Ta-Nehisi Coates like a kid with special needs. “Just let him score a TD! We are so proud of him and excited he got to play!” pic.twitter.com/vrSL8ypLqe
— Political Sock (@politicalsock) October 7, 2024
That interview was totally fine. Tony didn't let him get away with anything. CBS should be proud
— Showbiz 411 (@showbiz411) October 7, 2024
Good on CBS.
— Jared R. Francis (@jaredrfrancis) October 7, 2024
So they're mad that a journalist actually did journalism??
— Mark (@SaltWater651) October 7, 2024
So a journalist committed a random act of journalism and CBS is upset?
— PMWarner (@pn_warner) October 7, 2024
The interview was fine. Frankly, they did not challenge Ta-Nehisi Coates nearly enough over his glaring omissions & ridiculous framing. But Coates is deemed untouchable, so even the lightest pushback pointing out his obvious biases & questionable motivations causes a meltdown. https://t.co/mPYdbMmdS0
— Jerry Dunleavy IV 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) October 7, 2024
Journalism has turned into a liberal art college struggle session if a progressive is challenged for their increasingly lucidly insane worldview. Meanwhile with conservatives like Vance at CBS debate moderators can lie, violate terms agreed too and cut microphones.
— JimBearNJ (@JimBearNJ1) October 7, 2024
Coates’ biases & shallow understanding resulted in him projecting his own experience with racism onto a situation which has nothing to do with racism, but has everything to do with security. The false linkage with US Civil Rights is a dream come true for Palestinian propagandists
— Stop Uyghur Genocide (@UserrrNamezzz) October 7, 2024
How dare you challenge a known open bigot and antisemite when interviewing him? 😂
— Drexl (@MedellinGooner) October 7, 2024
The Pro-Hamas crowd is comfortable on the streets of every city and the quad of every campus in the West. But if they have to hear someone on network television who disagrees with them it's a mental health event.
— Foster (@foster_type) October 7, 2024
These people are just absolutely pathetic. There's no other way to say it. Be a grown person. You do not need a trauma trainer to deal with someone you agree with getting challenging questions on a morning show. https://t.co/fJrxThVx7u
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) October 7, 2024
This reminds us of when the whole New York Times newsroom said they felt "unsafe" after the paper published an op-ed by Tom Cotton calling for the National Guard to be called in to quell the riots in the summer of 2020.
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