CBS News is the latest news organization to face turbulence from its far-left wing in the newsroom, following what was widely seen as a tough but civil interview led by “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil .
Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has children living in Israel, questioned “The Message” author Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose new book criticizes Israel.
“The contents of this section would not be out of place in an extremist’s backpack,” Dokoupil told Coates, asking him “why leave so much out” and “What is it about the existence of a state that particularly offends you? Jewish?” Is this a safe place for Jews?”
What ensued was a lively conversation between Dokoupil and Coates that, despite its intensity, never boiled over into the air. The same, however, cannot be said within the network, according to several reports.
CBS HOST GRILLS TA-NEHISI COATES ON ANTI-ISRAEL VIEWS IN NEW BOOK: IT SEEMS LIKE IT CAME FROM AN 'EXTREMIST'
Author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates was asked about his views on Israel's right to exist by CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil in an interview last week. (CBS/Screenshot)
CBS leadership assured offended employees that, after review, they concluded the interview did not meet the company's “editorial standards,” which The free press reported, who obtained audio of the team meeting.
Although a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that Dokoupil would not be punished for the interview, he was forced to meet with the network's Internal Race and Culture Unit following complaints. According to The New York Times, the conversation “focused on Mr. Dokoupil's tone of voice, phrasing and body language” during the interview.
CBS Headquarters CEO SAYS NETWORK LEADERSHIP MADE 'MISTAKE' IN RESPONSE TO INTERVIEW WITH TONY DOKOUPIL
The New York Post also reported that Dokoupil expressed regret to employees in a meeting, one member of the network described: “There were tears. [People were] very upset.”
Some rallied to his defense, such as CBS News legal correspondent Jan Crawford, who defended him during a network conference call, and Shari Redstone, president of CBS News parent company Paramount Global, who called out the network's treatment of Dokoupil of “error.” CBS CEO George Cheeks issued a memo defending the news network's leadership.
The ideological takeover of the CBS newsroom appears to be in full swing. And it is far from the only media outlet impacted by its far-left employees.
“CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil was reprimanded by CBS leadership, who said his interview with Coates violated their “editorial standards.” (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images))
NBC's hiring (and firing) of Ronna McDaniel
Earlier this year, NBC News was embroiled in a scandal fueled by its own employees after the network announced it had hired former RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a contributor.
The practice by major news organizations of hiring former lawmakers, government officials and political insiders has existed for decades and has not been controversial, but a chorus of talent at NBC, especially from its staunchly liberal sister network MSNBC, has publicly rejected hiring McDaniel, citing his alleged actions in attempting to block the certification of Michigan's 2020 election results.
“We were not asked our opinion on the hiring, but if we had, we would have strongly opposed it for a number of reasons, including but not limited to, as lawyers would say, Ms. McDaniel's role in Donald Trump's fake election scheme and his pressuring election officials not to certify the election results while Donald Trump was on the phone,” said Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe.”
“To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in its election coverage,” co-host Mika Brzezinski continued. “But it should be conservative Republicans, not someone who used their position of power to deny anti-democracy elections. And we hope NBC reconsiders its decision. 'in his capacity as a paid taxpayer.”
NBC'S CHUCK TODD BLASTS NETWORK BOSS ON AIR FOR HIRING RONNA MCDANIEL AS ANALYST, APOLOGIZES
Former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was hired and fired by NBC News after the announcement sparked intense backlash from her liberal colleagues. (Screenshot/NBC)
Rachel Maddow, MSNBC's biggest star, criticized NBC's “inexplicable” decision to hire McDaniel and expressed hope that the network would reverse its decision.
“Ronna McDaniel will not appear on MSNBC, our boss has said since Saturday. And it was never anything but clear,” Maddow assured viewers.
Several of the network's liberal talents, including Chuck Todd, Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid and Jen Psaki, also spoke out against the change.
Just four days after NBC News announced McDaniel's hiring, she was fired.
“There is no doubt that the last few days have been difficult for the News Group,” NBCUniversial News Group President Cesar Conde told staff in a memo. “After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be a contributor to NBC News.”
Conde acknowledged that hiring McDaniel undermined the goal of a “cohesive and aligned” newsroom and apologized to his team.
“I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down,” Conde wrote. “While this was a collective recommendation from some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it.”
CNN's collapse over Trump town hall
Last year, the CNN team openly revolted when they hosted former President Trump for a live city hall.
“It is difficult to see how America was served by the show of lies that aired on CNN,” wrote then-CNN in-house reporter Oliver Darcy in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter. “Yes, some news broke… But for most of the night, the nation's eyes were transfixed on Trump's abuse of the platform he was given.”
CNN's Anderson Cooper offered a somber monologue addressing City Hall, telling his viewers: “Many of you have expressed deep anger and disappointment. Many of you are upset that someone who tried to destroy our democracy was asked to sit on a stage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and predictably continued to spew lie, after lie, after lie” before attacking supporters of Trump at the hearing and offer a tepid defense of the City Council.
CNN FACING 'FURY' FROM TRUMP TOWN HALL STAFF: 'IT FELT LIKE 2016 AGAIN'
Several CNN employees have gone public with their disdain for the network's town hall featuring former President Trump last year. (Screenshot/CNN)
The most violent takedown of Trump's town hall came from veteran CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who it was in a tear during a commencement speech she gave at Columbia Journalism School, revealing that she had directly confronted her then-boss, Chris Licht, about his disapproval.
“My administration believes they did the right thing, a service to the American people. Some reports wrote about important new thoughts and things we learned from Trump's own mouth that night… Time may well prove that Trump's electroshock therapy for the world jolts the undecided into greater awareness,” Amanpour said. “For me, of course, the fact that the American people voted against Trump and Trumpism three times – 2018, 2020, 2022 – also says a lot. We did our duty. We tell the story. We put this in everyone's mind. conscience and people had the opportunity to make their choices and they did.”
She continued, “I still respectfully disagree with allowing Donald Trump to appear in this particular format,” which drew applause from the audience.
Amanpour's speech was liked and shared on social media by dozens of CNN employees, including Jake Tapper. The town hall was believed to be the moment when Licht lost the trust of the CNN workforce. He ended up being fired weeks later.
Tom Cotton's now-infamous op-ed from The New York Times
Perhaps the first instance in which a news organization faced such public backlash within the newsroom was in 2020, when The New York Times published the now-infamous “Tom Cotton op-ed.”
The Republican senator argued in an op-ed titled “Send in the Troops” that the president should mobilize the military to quell the George Floyd riots that wreaked havoc in cities across the country.
Dozens of Times employees rushed to social media in a coordinated campaign, many of them echoing the phrase “Managing this put @nytimes black staff in danger.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES REMAINS HAUNTED BY TOM COTTON'S OP-ED ALMOST 4 YEARS LATER
Dozens of New York Times employees were outraged when the paper published an op-ed written by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who called for the military to be deployed to cities affected by the 2020 George Floyd riots. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Days later, the Times updated Cotton's article with a lengthy editor's note declaring that it “fell short of our standards and should not have been published.” Times editor AG Sulzberger, who initially defended publication of the op-ed, later backtracked, blaming “a rushed editorial process.”
As a result, two Times Opinion staff members, James Bennet and Adam Rubenstein, were removed from the Times. Another employee, James Dao, was transferred to a different department.
It was following this collapse when Bari Weiss stated in his resignation letter As one of the newspaper's opinion editors, “Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate publisher.”
Fox News' Brian Flood and Yael Halon contributed to this report.
