Paramount Co-CEO Pledges “Reflection” About Standards Following CBS’ Ta-Nehisi Coates Interview
Paramount Co-CEO George Cheeks said the company needs to have “substantive dialogue” about perceptions of bias and “inconsistent treatment,” following the CBS Mornings interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates.
In the interview about Coates’ new book, The Message, which argues that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is immoral, host Tony Dokoupil drew criticism from some for his pointed questioning around Coates’ views. In statement, Cheeks wrote that an editorial meeting should be called to talk about the standards for fairness and objectivity set within the news division.
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But he added that hosts should still be allowed to ask tough questions.
“Our hosts and correspondents will continue to ask the toughest questions on the most important and complex issues,” Cheeks wrote.
In the interview, which took place last week, Dokoupil asking pointed questions of Coates such as “Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it?” and commented “I have to say, when I read the book, I imagine if I took your name out of it, took away the awards, the acclaim … the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.”
The conversation between the two was largely civil, but CBS News Executives Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark told staff that the interview did not meet the network’s editorial standards due to Dokoupil’s tone throughout the questioning. THR earlier reported that the reprimand was also connected some prior instances with Dokoupil rewriting scripts or disregarding CBS editorial standards for fairness. The interview has caused controversy within the newsroom, and the wider public, given the highly charged topic.
Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount Global, said in an Advertising Week panel Wednesday that she disagrees with the idea that the interview did not meet editorial standards.
“I frankly think Tony did a great job with that interview,” Redstone said. “I was very proud of the work that he did. Yes, as hard as it was for me to go against this company, I think they made a mistake here.”
Full statement from Cheeks below:
There has been strong and growing discord within CBS News that needed to be addressed in an editorial meeting. This must lead to further substantive dialogue about perceptions of inconsistent treatment, implicit bias and the important standards our News division has in place to establish guardrails for fairness and objectivity.
To be clear, this has never been about CBS News’ right to ask the tough question; that is and always will be the standard. Our hosts and correspondents will continue to ask the toughest questions on the most important and complex issues. I’m incredibly proud of CBS News and the way they meet the moment, even in the most challenging times.
Wendy is an outstanding, accomplished leader. She and her leadership team are passionate advocates and stewards for CBS News standards; that won’t change. Reasonable minds in a newsroom will appropriately pressure test and debate internally to ensure balanced and objective coverage externally.
All of us move forward from this moment – including me – committed to reflection, perfecting the process and doubling down in service of the audience when the need for accurate, unbiased news presented in proper context has never been more important.
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