There is some serious drama unfolding at CBS News after one of its anchors committed an act of journalism – no, definitely not at last week’s vice presidential debate – and the guilty party will now face his comeuppance at the hands of the DEI judge and jury.
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Here’s what’s going on.
Tony Dokoupil, anchor of CBS’s morning show – aptly named “CBS Mornings” – recently interviewed radical leftist Ta Nahesi-Coates, an outspoken proponent of reparations. Nahesi-Coates was appearing on the show to promote his new book, “The Message,” which The Free Press calls “a masterpiece of warped arguments and moral confusion,” when the incident took place. It turns out that Nahesi-Coates is also a raging antisemite and has previously complained that the Israel-Hamas conflict isn’t, as some people claim, a complicated issue. He argued, instead, that “It’s complicated when you want to take something from somebody.”
Interviewer Dokoupil had the gall to question Nahesi-Coates about his anti-Israel comments.
“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?”
This, as Puck News’ Dylan Byers reported on X, was when things started to go wrong for Dokoupil. According to Byers:
“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 angered some at CBS who felt Dokoupil brought his own bias.”
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Byers then noted that CBS News honchos Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark, at a Monday morning meeting, “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 Crawford criticized the leaders for their decision, saying the following…”:
“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 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
“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 deeply complex situation that completely was devoid of history or fact. As journalists, that’s what we have an obligation to do.”
Notably, this is happening on the first anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which is not an insignificant point here. It seems that the brass at CBS News is in agreement with Ta Nahesi-Coates on the subject of Israel.
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Byers later jumped back on X to let his followers know that, in response to the kerfuffle, CBS would be bringing in “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.”
This is not surprising, of course, as it is CBS News we’re talking about here. Just last week, they had two supposed journalists moderate a somewhat consequential vice presidential debate, and all we got out of it was biased “fact-checking,” stern expressions, and thought bubbles of “Why is he mansplaining this to me?” Not their finest moment, but CBS News has very few of those these days.
Not surprising, but still insane.
Oh, and that self-described DEI and trauma expert? Here’s what he’s all about:
Also this:
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So, the trauma session at CBS News will go just as you expect it will. Radical leftist nonsense words and shaming will be abundant, but common sense and reality will be in short supply.
It remains to be seen if Tony Dokoupil will have to issue a groveling apology for doing his job in order to keep his job, but we’ll keep an eye out for that.