“CBS Morning” co-host Tony Dokoupil says he “regrets” his criticism of anti-Israel writers, putting his staff in a difficult position amid a scandal at the station. The Post has learned what he told officials during a private meeting.
Sources said the embattled anchor attended a staff-only meeting on Tuesday (co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson were in attendance), a day after he was reprimanded by CBS executives for his heated sit-down with Ta-Nasi Coates. He said that he did not do so. .
“Mr. Tony said he regrets putting his colleagues in that position, especially those who are at risk overseas,” an insider told the Post.
“Tears came to my eyes. [People were] “We are very upset,” the source continued, adding that staffers are “divided” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are “perplexed” by Dokoupil's challenge to Coates last week. Ta.
But sources said Mr. Dokoupil did not back down from asking pointed questions about Mr. Coates' new book during the 11:30 a.m. meeting led by “CBS Morning” executive producer Shauna Thomas.
Another person said some Black staff members at the meeting criticized Burleson and King for remaining silent on the matter.
Mr. Dokoupil held a private meeting with his co-hosts on Monday at his office at 1515 Broadway, a second source said. Details of the 30-minute powwow were not immediately available.
Dokoupil did not respond to requests for comment.
CBS News declined to comment.
In the days leading up to Tuesday's meeting, CBS Morning staff members complained to network executives about Coates' treatment of the reporter, who was promoting his latest book, “The Message,” the person said. That's what it means.
The novel denounces what he called Israel's “apartheid” in managing the territory it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Dokupil convert to Judaism His ex-wife lives in Israel with their two children.challenged Mr. Coates, saying that the book characterized Israel so much that it “would not be out of place in an extremist's backpack.”
At a staff meeting on Monday marking the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamast terrorist attack that killed 1,400 people in Israel, CBS News boss Wendy McMahon and head of content development Adrian Roark said that Dokoupil himself criticized for bringing “bias'' into the news. Pac News and media reports added that the interview did not meet the network's editorial standards. Bari Weiss Free Press.
On Tuesday, Shari Redstone, controlling shareholder of CBS parent company Paramount Global, was furious at executives' handling of the situation, saying it was insensitive to address the issue on Oct. 7. The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Free Press leaked audio of Monday's meeting, which included criticism from CBS News chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford. vehemently criticized the executive's comments in front of employees.
“Regarding this call, it seems like they are publicly accusing one of the anchors of not meeting editorial standards, and I don’t even know what that is,” she said.
“We thought our commitment was true, and as Coates himself has acknowledged, when someone appeared on our broadcast with a one-sided explanation of a very complex situation… , we understand that as journalists we have a duty to challenge that worldview in order to give our viewers access to it: the truth, a fuller account, a more balanced account. And for me, that's what Tony did.”
Pac News reported late Monday that the network plans to use DEI consultant Dr. Donald Grant to lead Tuesday's discussion with staff to address the uproar within “CBS Morning.”
But Grant's own controversial views were exposed by the Post, including a social media post by a self-proclaimed “mental health expert.” modified cover Featuring the face of Donald Trump-supporting South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, as well as several other characters from Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Image processed with Photoshop.
Grant's Instagram post earlier this year changed the title to “Uncle Tim's Cabin” and included an image of conservative commentator Candace Owens.
At the time, CBS News declined to comment on Pack's report and Grant's Instagram. Pack said on Tuesday that the decision to invite Grant was made on short notice amid an uproar that angered critics and Scott's fundraising campaign using Grant's photoshopped book cover. Reported.
Scott: “If we allow the radical, intolerant left to win, the above disgusting rhetoric is exactly what awaits us.'' Post on the fundraising platform Win Red.
