CBS Colleagues ‘Afraid to Speak Out’ for Partially Scandalous Jewish Anchor

CBS staff are afraid to speak out on behalf of a Jewish colleague caught up in an impartiality dispute for fear of being “ostracized” by their bosses, they have claimed.

The network has been rocked by an interview by Tony Dokoupil, one of its morning news anchors, after executives criticized him for showing bias toward Israel.

In the interview, with pro-Palestinian author Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mr Dokoupil said his comments about Gaza “wouldn’t be out of place in an extremist’s backpack” and asked: “What is the What offends him so particularly about the existence of a Jewish state that is a Jewish safe place?”

He was later admonished in an all-staff call, where executives said the interview had not met the network’s impartiality standards. Sources at the show said Dokoupil had previously been criticized internally for showing bias towards Israel.

However, CBS News bosses were criticized for the intervention, including by the CEO of the network’s parent company, who said it was a “mistake” and that the interview had been a model of “civil discourse”.

An ally of Mr Dokoupil told The Telegraph that staff were now afraid to stand up for him because they feared being sidelined by executives.

Establishing a narrative

A network source said the anchor’s critics in the newsroom had made assumptions about her views on Israel and set a narrative about her reporting that others were afraid to challenge.

They said most staff supported the interview but feared reprisals for speaking up for their colleague because senior bosses had closed ranks in the face of public scrutiny.

CBS News is embroiled in several fairness controversies, with Donald Trump claiming he favorably edited an interview with Kamala Harris on Monday to improve her answers.

A preview clip of the vice president offering a vague “word salad” response about the Middle East was edited from her interview on “60 Minutes,” the network’s flagship magazine show.

Trump called for the suspension of CBS News’ broadcast license, calling the incident a “scandal” and “fake news.” The FCC, the U.S. media regulator, said it would not suspend the license.

Journalists have also been told not to refer to the city of Jerusalem as Israel, due to rival Palestinian claims. A network source said the “complicated” question of Jerusalem’s ownership should be addressed in the broadcasts and that it should not be referred to as an exclusively Israeli city.