Gayle King spoke out for the first time about CBS Mornings’ controversial interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israel and Palestine.
The veteran newsreader has been under pressure in recent weeks for her role in co-host Tony Dokoupil’s exciting interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Coates was on the show on September 30 to discuss his new book, The Message, which is highly critical of Israel and its invasion of Gaza.
Speaking at the Paley Center in New York on Tuesday, King made the shocking admission that the show must now take into account the way it approaches hot-button issues.
“You have to be very careful about how you ask the questions, how the questions are received. I don’t think we shy away from hard conversations either. So I think it’s been something educational for everyone,” she added.
Gayle King spoke out for the first time about CBS Mornings’ controversial interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israel and Palestine
The veteran newsreader has been under pressure over the past week for her role in co-host Tony Dokoupil’s tense interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates.
She added: “Life is hard. The news is difficult. Sometimes you have tough conversations on television.’
Executive producer Shawna Thomas has also admitted that the show has listened to outside and inside pressure regarding the segment.
‘I think we learned a lot from that. “I hope these conversations make us better journalists and better listeners,” she said The Hollywood Reporter.
Dokoupil who converted to Judaism and whose ex-wife and children live in Israel – accused Coates of being an “extremist” and attacked him for lacking an Israeli perspective.
King sat mostly in silence during the heated exchange, but Coates later claimed she tried to inform him of the interview’s line of questioning.
Coates told Trevor Noah on his show that the host approached him before the interview and told him what she wanted to ask.
“Gayle came backstage before we went, and she had gone through the book. And I’m not saying she agreed with the book. She said, ‘I want to ask you about this, I want to ask you about that,'” he said.
Ironically, Coates tried to defend King, claiming that Dokoupil had put the interview “in charge” and that King couldn’t ask anything she planned to do.
Executive producer Shawna Thomas has also admitted that the show has listened to outside and inside pressure regarding the segment
Nate Burleson, Vladimir Duthiers, executive producer Shawna Thomas, Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil attend the CBS Mornings panel at the Paley Center
“As far as I’m concerned, the biggest thing that went wrong in that interview is, and I know she’s getting a lot of stuff going on right now, so I really want to say this. Gayle King is a great journalist and a great interviewer,” Coates said.
Coates said King was well prepared with “handwritten notes” before her co-host derailed the segment.
But his defense of King inadvertently caused her to face criticism over whether she should have told him anything about what she planned to ask.
CBS defended her against the criticism, calling her “one of the most respected journalists in America” and describing what she did as standard operating procedure.
‘She is known for her thorough preparation and note-taking. She reads the books, consumes the content discussed and prepares extensively for each interview on CBS Mornings,” the network told DailyMail.com.
“Having pre-segment conversations with guests is standard practice for any experienced host. Discussing a guest’s work in advance is a common approach to building rapport.’
Dokoupi — who has since apologized to staff for his behavior — was reprimanded by CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon, who said he “did not meet editorial standards for impartiality.”
But McMahon and newsgathering chief Adrienne Roark were subsequently publicly criticized by Paramount chairman Shari Redstone, who said a “mistake” had been made and the episode “wasn’t handled properly.”
Dokoupil – whose two children and ex-wife live in Israel – was quick to criticize the author
Redstone also called Dokoupil to say she supported him, but expressed her doubts to Paramount co-chief executive George Cheeks.
Cheeks defended McMahon, saying she and her leadership team are “passionate advocates and stewards for CBS News’ standards” and “that won’t change.”
The controversy led to an interview she did with the father of a girl kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack on Israel.
The resurfaced clip of King interviewing Thomas Hand in November 2023 about the kidnapping of his eight-year-old daughter Emily by Hamas led to claims of a double standard by CBS.
‘Now it all seems to be about politics. What do you say to that? You know, you have innocent children and Palestinians dying, innocent Israeli children dying. And no one seems to be able to say, ‘Enough, stop it,'” King asked.
Hand laughed nervously and replied, “I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back.”
Emily was safely returned to her family a few weeks later, 50 days after she was kidnapped in the massacre that killed 1,200 people and sparked the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
But King’s harsh line of questioning — which was backed by her CBS Mornings bosses — angered some viewers.
Jewish Insider correspondent Lahav Harkov claimed that King’s conversation with Hand showed a double standard in the way the two interviews were handled.
“It’s against CBS standards for Tony Dokoupil to ask Ta-Nehisi Coates tough questions about his anti-Israel screed, but apparently it was fine for Gayle King to make accusations against a hostage’s father — who didn’t say anything derogatory about the Palestinians,” he said. said.