Shari Redstone says CBS leaders made ‘bad mistake’ with handling of Ta-Nehisi Coates interview fallout

By Hadas Gold, Liam Reilly and Brian Stelter, CNN

New York (CNN) — Shari Redstone, the chair of CBS parent company Paramount Global, said Wednesday that CBS leadership had made a “bad mistake” with their handling of “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil’s contentious interview last week with author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

In stark opposition to what CBS editorial leadership told staff on Monday, Redstone said that she did not believe Dokoupil had violated the network’s editorial standards when he grilled Coates over the contents of his new book.

“I think Tony did a great job with that interview,” Redstone said Wednesday during a panel at Advertising Week New York. “I think he handled himself and showed the world and modeled what civil discourse is. He showed that there was accountability, that there is a system of checks and balances, and frankly, I was very proud of the work that he did.”

Redstone said she had expressed her support to Dokoupil directly and was “very glad” CBS had Coates on the network’s morning program to discuss his new book, “The Message.”

“But we have to also provide the opportunity to challenge him on what he says, just like we challenge everybody else,” Redstone said.

Coates, a National Book Award winner, released “The Message” last week, in which he portrays Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as a moral crime, one that many Americans can’t or won’t face directly.

During a daily editorial meeting Monday, CBS News executives said Dokoupil had violated the network’s editorial standards during the Coates interview, where the host compared the book to “extremist” writings and challenged Coates for excluding the Israeli perspective in his book.

“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, took the cover off the book, publishing house goes away, the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” Dokoupil said to Coates.

On Wednesday, Redstone said the network’s executives made a “bad mistake” with their handling of the ensuing controversy over the interview.

“I’ve been working with the CEOs. I’ve been working with the woman who does a lot of our diversity training, and I think we all agree that this was not handled correctly, and we all agree that something needs to be done,” Redstone said.

Redstone has long been a supporter of Israel and has worked in the past year on efforts to combat antisemitism.

“People need to understand the core issues and what they’re talking about. We need to have better education about how to challenge people in the civil way, which, frankly, I think Tony did,” Redstone said at the event. “We need to have, most important, standards that are applied to everyone on all issues. You can’t have one standard for somebody who has one position and another standard for somebody who has another position.”

The September 30 interview had elicited internal complaints, prompting CBS News and Stations president and CEO Wendy McMahon and her top deputy Adrienne Roark to enlist the network’s standards and practices unit to conduct a review of the discussion. The news division’s race and culture unit was involved as well.

A person familiar with CBS’ review told CNN the issue was “handled respectfully.”

“This issue was red hot, and there were many, many, many people in the organization who were concerned about how that interview was handled,” the person said.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, CBS president and CEO George Cheeks expressed support for McMahon’s decision to conduct a review, calling her an “outstanding, accomplished leader.”

“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,” Cheeks said.

“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,” he added.

The person familiar with the review said several correspondents and producers had expressed concern over Dokoupil’s conduct in numerous instances beyond the Coates interview.

“It’s clear this was an issue that required a process and serious conversations and serious reviews, and that’s what happened,” the person added.

During a “CBS Mornings” staff meeting on Tuesday, Dokoupil stood by his questioning of Coates, a person close to the show told CNN. The person said that despite Redstone’s comments, they believe the situation is “calming down” and that “after some important conversations” they are “ready to move forward again as a team.”

This story has been updated with additional reporting and context.

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