In Leaked Audio, CBS Execs Admit Ta-Nehisi Coates Interview Was Handled Poorly

Remember that wildly heated interview that took place between “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil and author Ta-Nehisi Coates that went viral last month? Well, network brass has admitted that Dokoupil’s conduct simply did not meet their editorial standards.

CBS executives admitted in audio of the meeting obtained and published by The Free Press that the Coates’ segment was problematic in how Dokoupil handled it, according to CBS News executives Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark. 

During the Sept. 30 segment, Dokoupil was seemingly upset with Coates’ perspective in “The Message,” comparing some of the contents of the book to that “of an extremist.” He also said he was perplexed that someone as “smart” as Coates would “leave out so much” from the book.

“Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it? Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil asked.

“We will still ask tough questions. We will still hold people accountable. But we will do so objectively, but that means very plainly checking our biases and opinions at the door,” Roark said in the leaked audio, adding that staff has expressed concern over the report, and suggested that editorial standard were not met.

Reporter Jan Crawford pushed back on the notion that Dokoupil overstepped.

“It sounds like we are calling out one of our anchors in a somewhat public setting on this call for failing to meet editorial standards for, I’m not even sure what,” she said. “I thought our commitment was to truth. And 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, a more balanced account. And, to me, that is what Tony did.”

Coates, a recipient of the National Book Award, recently released “The Message” in which he paints the way Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as a moral crime that Americans have aptly shied away from.

“For as sure as my ancestors were born into a country where none of them was the equal of any white man, Israel was revealing itself to be a country where no Palestinian is ever the equal of any Jewish person anywhere,” Coates wrote in the book.

Though “CBS Mornings” co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson remained mostly silent during the exchange, Coates was praised by the Black internet for calmly defending himself.

“There is no shortage of that perspective in American media,” Coates said. “I am most concerned, always, with those who don’t have a voice.”

CBS executives shared that an open forum for morning show staffers to discuss the matter will continue throughout the week.