In a seven-minute interview on September 30, CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil pressed author Ta-Nehisi Coates on the most contentious parts of his new essay collection, The Message, which tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The fallout continues to reverberate, with Paramount Global’s CEO, Shari Redstone reportedly admitting that CBS’s decision to reprimand Dokoupil was a “mistake.”
Dokoupil’s line of questioning was direct but fair: “Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it?” He also noted that the book “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” highlighting its omission of any mention of Palestinian terrorism.
Instead of engaging in an open debate, The Free Press revealed how CBS succumbed to internal backlash and forced Dokoupil to apologize. This reprimand of a journalist for merely doing his job reveals a glaring double standard in how major networks handle guests’ views on Israel.
The hypocrisy is staggering. CBS staffers weren’t upset because Coates was unfairly treated but likely because it might have been the first time he was genuinely challenged. For years, Coates has enjoyed kid-glove treatment from a media eager to praise him.
Take his recent interview with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Hayes echoed nearly everything Coates said, even going so far as to declare that Israel is committing a “moral abomination.” When asked if critics might accuse him of engaging in a “one-sided propaganda tour of Israel,” Coates was handed a convenient opportunity to deny it, invoking segregation and apartheid: “I am against segregation. I am against apartheid. I am against Jim Crow. Nothing will make that OK.”
This false equivalence—comparing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and the segregationist United States—went unchallenged, presented as unvarnished truth.
Similarly, an interview between Coates and journalist Michel Martin on Christiane Amanpour’s show was another exercise in softball journalism. When discussing Coates’ comparison of Israel to Jim Crow America, Martin lobbed a question tailor-made to invite more inflammatory rhetoric: “You say it’s a place where the glare of racism burned more intensely than anywhere else in your life. Tell us why.”
This provided Coates the platform to make blatantly inaccurate claims about “roads only for Israeli settlers” and separate roads for Palestinians—an anti-Israel trope. The interview concluded with Martin summing up Coates’ position: “So your core conclusions are: it’s an apartheid regime, and the life there for Palestinians is unbearable.”
Coates responded with more unchecked hyperbole: “It’s unbearable. It’s demeaning. It’s dehumanizing. And it’s morally unjustifiable.”
Unbelievable. @CBSNews reprimanded a journalist for doing his job—challenging @TaNehisiCoats‘ limited understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. https://t.co/ZBEBcReNjg
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 8, 2024
Then, in an October 3 interview on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart offered Coates near-universal praise, applauding him for his supposed bravery: “Through your discomfort… you’ve done the most important thing, which is trying to advance an understanding of a complexity that we haven’t figured out in 10,000 years.” Stewart’s flattery only underscores the absurdity of the situation: Coates is being lauded for “figuring out” millennia of conflict during a 10-day trip to Israel.
The contrast becomes even more stark when comparing this fawning treatment to a CBS interview between Gayle King and Thomas Hand, whose daughter Emily was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. In discussing life in Israel before the massacre, Hand reflected: “The greatest movement towards peace that Israel ever did was pulling out of Gaza. Israel has never made such a big step towards peace, and it got us nothing. They didn’t make even a baby step back toward peace.”
WATCH: CBS’s Gayle King LECTURES the father of a eight-year-old Israeli girl being held hostage by Hamas that “innocent children in Pales –Palestinians…are dying” too just as “innocent Israeli children” and, b/c of “politics,” “no one seems to be able to say enough, stop” pic.twitter.com/5qkg2QUMNn
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 15, 2023
Rather than allowing this poignant statement to stand, King pivoted to ask about innocent Palestinian children dying. Hand’s response was as raw as it was revealing: “I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back, whatever it takes.”
CBS staffers said nothing about this segment. But Coates being asked a question? That crossed the line.
The CBS-Coates controversy perfectly encapsulates a troubling dynamic within mainstream media: challenge pro-Israel narratives, and you’ll be praised for your courage. Question anti-Israel falsehoods, and you’ll be forced to apologize. Ta-Nehisi Coates has been elevated as an intellectual authority, yet his writings expose a limited grasp of both history and modern geopolitics.
Sadly, the erosion of journalistic integrity in the United States means that anyone daring to point out uncomfortable truths is treated as a pariah. Dokoupil’s questioning exposed the media’s weakness, and they couldn’t tolerate it.
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