CBS mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil admits ‘regret’ to teary staff at crisis meeting after bosses condemned him for controversial interview on Israel
CBS host Tony Dokoupil told his assembled colleagues that he regretted the row over his fiery interview with a pro-Palestinian writer, claiming it may have put some of them in danger.
Channel bosses have blasted the CBS Mornings host for putting his “bias” on screen after he told best-selling author Ta-Nehsi Coates that his essays on Palestinians “wouldn’t look out of place in an extremist’s backpack” ‘.
Chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford was among the stars who defended Dokoupil on Monday, insisting that reporters were “obligated to question controversial opinions.”
But sources admitted the network remained deeply divided over the issue after another “tearful” staff meeting on Tuesday, where Dokoupil addressed his colleagues for the first time.
“Tony said he regretted putting his colleagues in that position, especially those who were overseas and in danger,” one person told the newspaper NYPost.
CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil (right) blasted author Ta-Nehisi Coates (left) for “delegitimizing” Israel’s right to exist
CBS editor-in-chief and newsgatherer Adrienne Roark berated Dokoupil during a staff meeting for not checking his “biases and opinions at the door”
Coates was invited to the program to talk about his new book ‘The Message’ – a collection of essays based on his conversations with Palestinians living in Israel and the West Bank.
Dokoupil, whose ex-wife and children live in Israel, accused him of undermining the country’s right to exist and demanded to know why no pro-Israel voices were included.
“The contents of that section would not be out of place in an extremist’s backpack,” he told his guest.
‘Why leave out the fact that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it? Why would you ignore the fact that Israel is dealing with terrorist groups that want to eliminate the country?’
Coates emphasized that there was no shortage of pro-Israel voices in the American media, and that he was trying to “tell those stories that I haven’t heard yet.”
Dokoupil claimed that people who read “The Message” will finish it believing that Israel is a terrible place that should not exist.
“What I struggled with in this book is what is it that so particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state that is a Jewish safe place and not one of the other states out there,” he asked.
“If Israel has a right to exist, and if your answer is no, then I think the question becomes: why do the Palestinians have a right to exist?
‘Why do twenty different Muslim countries have the right to exist?’
Co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson sat in shocked silence during the six-minute exchange, and some staffers expressed anger that they remained tight-lipped.
Jan Crawford, the network’s chief legal correspondent, led Dokoupil’s defense, saying she did not see why his questioning of Coates’ position on Israel was a problem.
Coates fired back: “There is nothing that offends me about a Jewish state. I am offended by the idea of states built on ethnocracy, wherever they are.
‘I would not want a state in which any group of people imposes their citizenship rights on the basis of ethnicity. ‘Either apartheid is right, or it is wrong. It’s really very simple.
‘I am against a state that discriminates against people based on ethnicity.’
Coates appeared on CBS Mornings to discuss his new book ‘The Message’ – a collection of essays, including one about his visit to Palestine
Co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson sat in shocked silence during the six-minute discussion, and some staffers expressed anger at Tuesday’s meeting that they were still tight-lipped on the issue.
Dokoupil had a private meeting with the pair on Monday before CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and president of content development Adrienne Roark rallied the staff to drag him over the coals.
“We’re still going to hold people accountable,” Roark said. “But we will do that objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door.”
She said the interview did not “meet our editorial standards” and added that “it has been addressed, and will continue to be addressed in the future.”
But some employees were furious that the Jewish reporter was criticized for doing his job.
“It sounds like we’re calling out one of our presenters in a somewhat public setting on this call for not meeting editorial standards for, I’m not even sure what,” Crawford said during the meeting.
“I thought our commitment was to the truth.
“And when someone comes on our broadcast with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges he has done, I understand that as journalists we have an obligation to challenge that worldview so that our viewers can have access the truth or a fuller account, a more balanced account.
“And to me, that’s what Tony did.”
But a CBS employee told the Post that the acclaimed author should not have appeared on the network to express pro-Palestinian views and accuse Israel of apartheid.
“This is more of a mistake by CBS News not reading books and evaluating whether to promote them,” he added.
“I think Tony has done what any good journalist should do: make sure both sides are represented in an argument.”
And Coates himself came to Dokoupil’s defense on Tuesday, insisting: “I don’t really have a problem with a tough interview.”
“When I wrote it, I knew I would be confronted with it,” he said Democracy now.
‘Was he rude? Was he aggressive? “I can’t really comment on that, it’s not really something I think about too much,” he added.
“The question I would like to ask, however, is: How often do you see at a major news organization someone who is a defender of the Israeli state project confronted in this way?”