Paramount Global’s nonexecutive chair, Shari Redstone, publicly broke with the CBS News management team over its handling of an interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates about Israel that has roiled the newsroom.
Redstone, speaking Wednesday at a previously scheduled event for Advertising Week in New York, said Paramount Global’s news division leadership “made a mistake” in admonishing “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil for his aggressive questioning of Coates. The award-winning author appeared on the program Sept. 30 to discuss his new book, “The Message,” which examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Redstone praised Dokoupil’s handling of the interview, which drew criticism from the news division’s standards and practices department and its race and culture unit. During the interview, Dokoupil said the book “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.”
Employees upset over the Coates interview conducted an email writing campaign complaining that Dokoupil’s personal views were influencing his reporting, according to a person familiar with the messages who was not authorized to discuss them publicly.
Management’s issues with Dokoupil were discussed in an editorial call with staff on Monday, a recording of which was leaked to the digital news publication the Free Press.
Top CBS News executives Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark told staff members on the call that the interview did not meet the network’s editorial standards. Redstone disagreed.
“I frankly think Tony did a great job with that interview,” Redstone said. “I was very proud of the work that he did. Yes, as hard as it was for me to go against this company, I think they made a mistake here.”
Redstone has been known to express her opinions about CBS News internally, but her comments on Wednesday were the first instance of her disagreeing publicly with a policy decision at the news division.
Redstone has long been a philanthropic supporter of Jewish causes, especially fighting antisemitism. She is also known to be politically conservative.
Redstone made her comments during a conversation with Matthew Segal, co-founder and co-chief executive of ATTN, a social media content company. The session was titled “Using Engaging Content to Fight Hate.”
This year Paramount Global agreed to merge with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. There have been no formal statements on who would run CBS News once the deal receives regulatory approval.
Redstone said she had no issue with having Coates as a guest on CBS News.
“I’m very glad that we gave him an opportunity to speak,” she said. “But we have to also provide the opportunity to challenge him on what he says.”
George Cheeks, co-chief executive of Paramount Global, issued a statement in support of McMahon and CBS News leadership after Redstone made her remarks.
“She and her leadership team are passionate advocates and stewards for CBS News standards; that won’t change,” Cheeks said. “Reasonable minds in a newsroom will appropriately pressure test and debate internally to ensure balanced and objective reporting externally.”
Dokoupil has not faced disciplinary action and has remained on the air as the company has held sessions with employees to discuss the matter. On a recording of the Monday call, CBS News journalist Jan Crawford said she struggled to see how Dokoupil’s exchange with Coates violated the newsroom’s policies.
Tensions over Middle East coverage have been ongoing at CBS News and other newsrooms since the Hamas attack on Israel last year.
Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has two children living with his ex-wife in Israel, was cordial during the interview with Coates. But he repeatedly questioned the approach the author took in his book, which compares Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank to the Jim Crow era of segregation in the U.S.
Dokoupil observed that the book did not explore the threats Israel faces from neighboring adversaries in the Middle East. Coates countered: “There is no shortage of that perspective in American media. I am most concerned, always, with those who don’t have a voice.”
