Earlier this week, a Jewish cohost of CBS Mornings conducted a somewhat hostile interview with a prominent critic of Israel. There shouldn't be anything particularly notable about this—it is the job of journalists to ask probing questions, and for skilled thinkers to address them. And yet the episode has produced a meltdown at CBS, with some staffers apparently demanding that the network take action to punish the interviewer.
They seem to have gotten their way, at least up to a point. The host, Tony Dokoupil, had to meet with the network's standards and practices team, as well as its "race and culture unit," according to The New York Times. During an internal staff conversation that was leaked to The Free Press and other news outlets, network executives asserted that Dokoupil had "failed to meet editorial standards." CBS even planned to invite a "mental health expert, DEI strategist and trauma trainer" to attend the staff conversation and offer guidance; these plans were scrapped after drawing widespread and well-deserved ridicule on social media. (More on that in a moment.)
The very idea that an opinionated host grilling an opinionated guest is somehow a lapse of journalistic integrity is ridiculous. It's one thing to critique the premises of Dokoupil's line of questioning or to contend that his presumptions were unfair to the pro-Palestine perspective. It's quite another to demand protection from such questions vis-à-vis a kind of media safe space.
Note that the guest himself—the progressive journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates—has not expressed much outrage about the interview; on the contrary, he told Trevor Noah that he "wasn't insulted." In fact, Coates expected to come into conflict with a supporter of Israel during his promotional media tour. In truth, he probably welcomed it. Nothing sells books quite like controversy.
On Message
Coates is known for penning provocative essays on the topic of race, including "The Case for Reparations" and "Donald Trump Is the First White President." His new book, The Message, is partly about his visit to the West Bank; he concludes that Israel is an intensely racist country and guilty of a moral crime against the Palestinians.
Those views faced vehement pushback on Monday's episode of CBS Mornings, where Coates appeared to promote the book. Dokoupil—one of three cohosts, alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson—took control of the interview, and asked Coates a series of aggressive questions about the book's anti-Israel assumptions. A convert to Judaism, Dokoupil is the father of two children who live in Israel with their mother.
"The content of that section," said Dokoupil, with reference to the part of the book concerning Israel, "would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist."
Later, Dokoupil asked Coates what "bothered him" about the existence of a Jewish state.
Coates took these questions in stride. He asserted that he was opposed to any nation granting preferential treatment based on ethnicity or religious identity, and described Israel as an apartheid state. When asked about the Palestinians' culpability in violence against Israel, he replied that Israel's reactions in Gaza and the West Bank were morally illegitimate.
"I am against a state that discriminates against people on the basis of ethnicity," said Coates. "There is nothing the Palestinians could do that would make that okay for me."
Coates also contended that pro-Israel voices "have no problem getting their views out" in the media, whereas Palestinian sympathizers are underrepresented.
The entire segment lasted about seven minutes. As far as debates about Israel and Palestine go, this one was maybe a 3/10 on the spiciness scale. (For truly rancorous debates on this subject, watch Alan Dershowitz vs. Norm Finkelstein, Eli Lake vs. Jake Klein, and Briahna Joy Gray vs…me.) Dokoupil attempted to get his jabs in, Coates remained unflustered; viewers can make up their own minds about it.
Social media erupted in response: Fans of Dokoupil and supporters of Israel were pleased that he pressed Coates so ardently, while fans of Coates and supporters of Palestine were annoyed about the tone of the interview. It's true that the interview was not nearly as breezy and fluffy as the standard fare on CBS Mornings; on the other hand, cohost Gayle King once asked the father of an Israeli hostage about Israel's responsibility for the deaths of Palestinian children.
This was all fine; if you enter the arena of a media interview, you have to be prepared for tough or even agenda-driven questions. What's not fine was the behavior of CBS staff, who evidently complained about the interview and initiated a sort of struggle session. At the staff meeting on Tuesday, multiple staff members shed tears over what had happened, according to The Free Press. Some colleagues did come to Dokoupil's defense: Jan Crawford, chief legal correspondent at CBS News, rejected the idea that norms of journalism had been breached.
"When someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges that he has, it's my understanding that as journalists we are obligated to challenge that worldview so that our viewers can have that access to the truth or a fuller account," said Crawford. "To me, that is what Tony did."
DEI to the Rescue
The very silliest response to this affair came, of course, from the network itself, which briefly considered bringing in a man named Dr. Donald Grant to console staff members during the Tuesday meeting. Grant describes himself as a "mental health expert, DEI strategist, and trauma trainer." His own Instagram page, however, is not exactly a portrait of positive mental health, and the plan to involve him was quickly aborted.
actual LOL. here are just a few of the recent Instagram posts by Doctor DEI. ah yes, seems like just the person to guide an unbiased conversation on a controversial issue. https://t.co/mThoIhSuGy pic.twitter.com/8mHRVION1y
— Jerry Dunleavy IV ???????? (@JerryDunleavy) October 7, 2024
What exactly can we learn from this kerfuffle? It appears to be the case that major media organization still feel pressure to cave to their most easily offended staff members—and still think DEI hucksters provide a quick fix for discontentment. These are not healthy operating procedures. Let interviewers feud with their guests when they are inclined to do so; no one was harmed during the making of this episode of television.
This Week on Free Media
We are again taking this week off, but Free Media will be back next week. Stay tuned! In the meantime, you can catch me on Undercurrents with Emily Jashinsky.
On this episode of @UndercurrentsTV, @robbysoave joins @emilyjashinsky for a rapid response breakdown of the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz hosted by CBS. pic.twitter.com/xUEXouykrQ
— UnHerd (@unherd) October 2, 2024
Worth Watching
Upon finishing The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I automatically fired up The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition, of course). What can I say—the original films are still great.
The post CBS Needs a Safe Space for Tony Dokoupil's Critics appeared first on Reason.com.
