COLUMBIA BROADCASTING STRUGGLE SESSION UPDATE: CBS Rebukes Anchor Over Tense Interview With Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The interview created a social media uproar. Fans of Mr. Coates accused Mr. Dokoupil of bias, with one writer for Vox calling his questions “hostile, combative and rude.” Others took a more sanguine view, including a Washington Post reporter who wrote that the conversation had been “impassioned but calm” and had brought rigor to the typically breezy realm of morning TV.
Late last week, a group of CBS News employees approached executives with their concerns about Mr. Dokoupil’s handling of the interview, according to two people with knowledge of the events, who requested anonymity to share internal discussions.
Mr. Dokoupil met for an hour with members of the CBS News standards and practices team and the in-house Race and Culture Unit, which advises on “context, tone and intention” of news programming. The conversation focused on Mr. Dokoupil’s tone of voice, phrasing and body language during his interview with Mr. Coates, one of the people said.
Mr. Dokoupil, who joined CBS News in 2016 and became a morning anchor in 2019, is a rising star at the network who recently took on an extra hour on “CBS Mornings.” He is continuing to appear on the air.
Mr. Coates did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. CBS News declined to comment.
Executives who discussed the interview on Monday’s call had asked staff members to keep their remarks confidential. But their comments were reported within hours by Puck, and The Free Press, the news and opinion site run by Bari Weiss, published audio recordings of the meeting.
In-between Dokoupil meeting with CBS News’ Orwellian “Race and Culture Unit,” he had additional struggle sessions at CBS News: Dokoupil offers ‘regrets’ at teary staff meeting after grilling anti-Israel author:
“CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil told staffers during an emotional meeting that he “regretted” putting them in a difficult position amid the brewing scandal at the network over his grilling of an anti-Israel author, The Post has learned.
The embattled anchor spoke at Tuesday’s staff-only meeting — which was not attended by co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson — a day after being reprimanded by CBS brass for his fiery sit-down with Ta-Nehsi Coates, a source with knowledge said.
“Tony said he regretted putting his colleagues in that position especially the ones overseas and in danger,” the insider told The Post.
“There were tears. [People were] very upset,” the source continued, adding that staffers are “divided” on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and were “troubled” by how Dokoupil challenged Coates last week.
Dokoupil, however, didn’t back down from his incisive questioning of Coates about his new book during the 11:30 a.m. meeting, which was led by “CBS Mornings” executive producer Shawna Thomas, sources said.
A second source said that some black staffers who attended the meeting were critical that Burleson and King have remained tight-lipped about the matter.
Dokoupil held a private meeting on Monday with his co-hosts in his office at 1515 Broadway, the second source said. The details of the 30-minute pow-wow could not be immediately learned.
Dokoupil did not return requests for comment.
CBS News declined to comment.
Exit quote:
I don’t know anything about Dokoupil’s politics, but if he wants to work at another leftist news organization, wouldn’t he be risking the exact same situation if did suggest that his fellow CBS employees perform a crude anatomical impossibility? The first link is from the New York Times, hence their reference to Bari Weiss. She left the Times in 2020 after witnessing an identical struggle session from people who, if we take them at their word, are far too fragile and damaged to be allowed anywhere near a newsroom. We saw similar episodes from other newsrooms in recent years; and of course, the Atlantic’s infamous Mean Girls meltdown in 2018 when Kevin Williamson was hired. Are there any Lou Grant-type editors remaining on the left who wouldn’t allow such coddling in their newsrooms?
Related: Paul Coates, father of journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, republishing antisemitic screed ‘The Jewish Onslaught.’ “But even as Coates has been celebrated for nurturing such contemporary authors as Walter Mosley and reissuing works by W.E.B. Du Bois, among other luminaries, his company has also recently chosen to spotlight an antisemitic screed that seeks to uphold a widely discredited conspiracy theory alleging Jewish domination of the Atlantic slave trade.”
