CBS Staffers Were Reportedly Annoyed By Dokoupil’s Israel Coverage Even Before Controversial Interview: ‘If Tony Would Just Shut the F*ck Up’
CBS staffers have been questioning anchor Tony Dokoupil’s coverage of the war in Gaza since long before his contentious exchange with author Ta-Nehisi Coates, according to a new report.
During a CBS Mornings interview about Coates’ new book The Message, Dokoupil charged that the contents of one essay on Israel and Palestine in the book “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.” Over the next few minutes, the anchor accused Coates of leaving out context in regards to the conflict between Israel and Gaza. In response, Coates claimed “there is no shortage of that perspective in American media” and that he was more concerned with “those who don’t have a voice.”
The interview has proven to be greatly polarizing, with some accusing Dokoupil of being “cartoonishly racist” and other praising him for asking tough questions.
Internal friction at CBS over the interview exploded into public view this week, with a series of reports revealing that executives chastised Dokoupil for the tone of his coverage. Mediaite reported that a number of CBS staffers complained about his interview to network leadership, which led to a review that found it did not meet its standards. The results of that review, and the way it was conveyed to staff, has sparked a controversy that is still reverberating.
But according to a new report from Zeteo contributor Justin Baragona, the interview with Coates is far from the first time Dokoupil’s colleagues have taken issue with his coverage of the conflict.
Several sources accused Dokoupil of “overt editorializing” in his coverage of the last year since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. In one instance that sparked multiple complaints, when the University of Southern California canceled the speech of its valedictorian — a Muslim woman — over security concerns, Dokoupil appeared to blame the student by claiming she “called for the complete abolishment of Israel.”
In another instance, Dokoupil left a CBS foreign correspondent reporting on Israeli strikes against Lebanon visibly irked when he said, “If Hezbollah thought that Israel was going to graciously take a year full of rockets, Hezbollah miscalculated.”
“If Tony would just shut the fuck up,” one source told Zeteo, “none of this would be happening.”
The interview with Coates, Baragona reported, was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Although Dokoupil — along with co-hosts Nate Burleson and Gayle King — had agreed on a vetted set of questions, Dokoupil “immediately deviated from the script” and essentially commandeered the segment. As a result, neither Burleson nor King had time to ask their questions.
Coates later revealed in an interview with Trevor Noah that King showed him her “handwritten notes” in a copy of his book before listing all the things she wanted to ask him. He believed it was a disservice that King didn’t have time to ask those questions.
