ONE MAN’S TERRORIST IS ANOTHER MAN’S FREEDOM FIGHTER, SLIGHT RETURN: CBS News Told Staffers Not To Refer to Hamas as ‘Terrorists.’
CBS News executives cautioned their journalists against referring to Hamas members as âterroristsâ in a memo issued the day after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to the Free Press. Itâs the latest embarrassment for the news organization, which is in turmoil amid a daily drip of disclosures about institutionalized anti-Israel bias as well as anti-Trump bias.
Thursday night, the Free Press published an excerpt of an email sent to reporters on October 8, 2023, with the subject, âStandards guidance: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.â
âReporting on this weekendâs violence in Israel and Gaza requires a closer look at the language we use when describing events,â the email stated. âFor instance, the U.S. government considers Hamas a terrorist organization; however, suggesting an individual is a âterroristâ may be inaccurate depending on the facts.â
The email also noted there are disagreements over whether the attack was âjustifiedâ in response to âIsraeli occupation of their lands.â The message then said there are âothersâ who âbelieve this to be an unprovoked attack on Israel and, as such, Israel has every right to defend itself.â
A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed the guidance to the Sun. They said the goal of the guidance is to avoid generalizations about people in Gaza, such as labeling a doctor or nurse with the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry a terrorist without information they engaged in terrorism.
However, even the left-leaning Council on Foreign Relations notes Hamas has âput in place authoritarian institutionsâ that leave little room for flexibility or the ability to operate independently. Those who step out of line can face harsh punishments.
Additionally, the Israel Defense Forces have released video footage as evidence that Hamas has used civilian infrastructure such as hospitals as âcommand and controlâ centers and even possibly to hold hostages from the October 7 attack.
CBS News did not comment on the guidance.
As T. Becket Adams of NRO adds: CBS Makes a Mockery of âStandards.â
As incomprehensible as CBSâs approach to these back-to-back issues may be, one should not be surprised. This is hardly the first time the network has played fast and loose with its own unique and, apparently, proprietary set of journalism standards.
Recall that Gayle King, a news anchor, ruffled no feathers on May 26, 2020, when she declared following the death of George Floyd, âI am speechless. I am really, really speechless about what weâre seeing on television this morning. It feels to me like open season . . . and that sometimes itâs not a safe place to be in this country for black men.â
This pronouncement cleared the networkâs bar for âimpartialityâ? Or did management reason that King was exempted from the usual standards regarding personal commentary because she is black, and the news upon which she was commenting involved a black man? If so, does this courtesy not extend to Dokoupil, who, as a Jew, might have a valuable perspective on matters affecting the life and death of Jews, as King presumably did for blacks?
And what are we to make of Kingâs CBS Mornings interview of the Israeli father of a child taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, in which she said, âNow this seems to be all about politics. What do you say about that? You know, you have innocent children and Palestinians who are dying, innocent Israeli children who are dying. And no one seems to be able to say, âEnough, stop that.ââ To this, Tom Hand replied, in a tone of anguished exasperation, that he didnât care about politics, he just wanted his Emily back. CBSâs Standards and Practices and Race and Culture units had nothing to say about this interaction? No all-hands reprimand for Kingâs âtoneâ?
The Dokoupil saga will likely get dumber before it eventually blows over. But letâs not lose sight of the big question underlying it. CBS executives claim Dokoupil failed to meet their exacting standards of journalistic excellence. They say this even though his colleagues have grilled guests with objectively inappropriate lines of questions, with zero internal pushback. These executives say this even as 60 Minutes openly violates the networkâs interview production and editing standards, with zero explanation or defense provided.
All of this goes back to the underlying question: What standards?
It’s the Calvinball Broadcasting System. But is the clock ticking on its current woke insanity? The joke is on woke CBS News execs as new execs considering âblowing the place up.â
What is less public is how all this weirdness is impacting CBSâs future as an ongoing business, and most important, its pending sale to Skydance, an independent studio run by movie producer David Ellison of âTop Gun: Maverickâ fame.
Davidâs dad, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, provides much of the money behind the deal and from what I gather, heâs not too happy about his latest acquisition.
If you donât know Larry, hereâs a primer: Heâs one of the worldâs richest men, and one of the most pro-Israel executives in corporate America â heâs buds with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
Letâs just say the people at Skydance and the Ellisons read the newspapers (particularly The Post, which I know for a fact).
They are powerless to do anything about whatâs happening at CBS for now; the $28 billion deal to buy the networkâs parent Paramount from the controlling Redstone family doesnât close until sometime in the spring.
But they wonât be powerless for much longer. As one person who knows all the players at CBSâs new owners told me: âTheyâre thinking about blowing the place up.â
What exactly âblowing the place upâ means, no one knows for sure. Will it result in the defenestration of CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon and news-gathering chief Adrienne Roark, both of whom presided over the in-house thrashing of Dokoupil?
Hopefully Ellison won’t be as hands off in shaping CBS News as Jeff Bezos has been while the Washington Post spiraled out of control.
(Classical reference in headline.)