Paramount Global co-CEO George Cheeks is standing by CBS News leadership and calling for “further substantive dialogue” at the network amid “strong and growing discord” in the wake of anchor Tony Dokoupil’s recent interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.
“There has been strong and growing discord within CBS News that needed to be addressed in an editorial meeting. This must lead to further substantive dialogue about perceptions of inconsistent treatment, implicit bias and the important standards our News division has in place to establish guardrails for fairness and objectivity,” Cheeks said in a statement. “To be clear, this has never been about CBS News’ right to ask the tough question; that is and always will be the standard. Our hosts and correspondents will continue to ask the toughest questions on the most important and complex issues. I’m incredibly proud of CBS News and the way they meet the moment, even in the most challenging times.”
He went on to praise CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and her leadership team, calling them “passion advocates and stewards” for the network’s standards.
“That won’t change. Reasonable minds in a newsroom will appropriately pressure test and debate internally to ensure balanced and objective coverage externally,” he continued. “All of us move forward from this moment – including me – committed to reflection, perfecting the process and doubling down in service of the audience when the need for accurate, unbiased news presented in proper context has never been more important.”
Coates appeared on “CBS Mornings” last week to discuss his new book, “The Message,” which includes criticism of Israel’s approach to its war against Hamas in Gaza following his own visit to Jerusalem. Co-anchor Dokoupil turned the focus to the portion of his book discussing Israel and asserting that the content of that section, without Coates’ name attached, “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.”
Dokoupil went on to challenge Coates, asking why the author, whose talent he praised, would “leave out so much.” He cited issues including Israel being “surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it,” terrorists seeking its destruction and other historical context like sustained terrorist attacks against its citizens.
Coates defended his approach by noting that he felt American media already had plenty of the perspective that Dokoupil had outlined, so he sought to provide something different.
“I am most concerned, always, with those who don’t have a voice,” he said
Following the interview, Coates appeared on former MSNBC journalist Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo outlet and said of the CBS interview, “I was a little surprised and then I realized what was going on, I was in a fight.”
Both internal reaction and that of viewers has been mixed, with some taking issue with Dokoupil’s questions and description of Coates’ work and feeling that it indicated bias, while others supported his approach as being journalistically sound in how he asked tough questions. Dokoupil has written about being a convert to Judaism. His ex-wife and two of his children live in Israel.
An internal review by CBS News found that Dokoupil’s interview failed to meet editorial standards. The review was prompted by concerns and questions brought to management about comments and editorializing by Dokoupil over the past year, a network insider with knowledge of the matter told TheWrap, noting that some journalists were concerned about its impact on their ability to cultivate sources and report on the ongoing military conflict.
But there’s also been concern both inside and outside CBS over the timing of sharing the results of that investigation on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the Hamas terror attack last year.
During a call with staff on Monday, CBS News executive Adrienne Roark said that coverage of a story like Oct. 7 “requires empathy, respect and a commitment to truth.” While she said the network would “still ask tough questions” and “still hold people accountable,” she added that it would “do so objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door.” Roark also noted that staff had reached out about the interview to raise concerns, saying, “I want to acknowledge and apologize that it’s taken this long to have this conversation.”
CBS News’ chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford defended Dokoupil during the call, noting, “Tony prevented a one-sided account from being broadcast on our network.”
Paramount Global’s non-executive chairwoman Shari Redstone also pushed back against CBS News on Wednesday, noting that she disagreed with how the situation was handled and that the interview did not violate editorial standards.
“I’ve been doing a lot of speaking recently on the connection between the decline in our democratic institutions, in the rise in hate and antisemitism, and I think one of the reasons why it’s on the rise is that we have lost the ability to have civil discourse. We have lost accountability. We have lost checks and balances,” the Paramount Global non-executive chairwoman told an Advertising Week conference panel on Wednesday focused on using engaging content to combat hate. “I frankly think Tony did a great job with that interview. I think he handled himself and showed the world and role modeled what civil discourse is, that he showed that there was accountability, that there is a system of checks and balances and frankly I was very proud of the work that he did.”
“We all have voices and platforms that we can use. And as hard as it was, frankly, for me to go against the company — because I love this company and I believe in it, and I think we have a great, great executive team — I think they made a mistake here,” Redstone continued. “I just want to be clear that I’ve been working with the CEOs, I’ve been working with the woman who does a lot of our diversity training, and I think we all agree that this was not handled correctly and we all agree that something needs to be done. I don’t have editorial control. I am not an executive, but I have a voice in our platform, like all of us. And as you may know, I don’t hesitate to use it.”
When asked how the situation could’ve been handled better, Redstone said she didn’t know all the specifics, so it’s “really hard to say exactly what they did.” Still, she called for better education around the topic at large.
“People need to understand the core issues and what they’re talking about. We need to have better education about how to challenge people in a civil way, which, frankly, I think Tony did,” she reiterated. “And we need to have standards that are applied to everyone on all issues. You can’t have one standard for somebody who has one position and another standard for somebody who has another position. And I think the most important thing that can come out of this is that we all recognize that we need to provide a platform where people can have a voice, where they can have civil discourse, where they can challenge each other and we need to make sure that we give equal opportunity for this, regardless of what side of the issue you’re on.”
Redstone further said she’s “very glad” Coates appeared on “CBS Mornings” and had an opportunity to speak, but emphasized the network has to “also provide the opportunity to challenge him on what he says, just like we challenge everybody else, whether they’re politicians, friends or in any arena that we deal with.”
“We can all do a better job, and that’s what we all have to strive to do,” she noted.
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