The American television network CBS is one of the oldest, most popular, and influential networks in the United States. Its news programs boast high viewership ratings, and it is considered "mainstream" - that is, one that speaks to everyone, ostensibly without bias.
In the past week, a series of exposés by The Free Press (TFP), a critical American media outlet, revealed severe anti-Israel bias among CBS news personnel. TFP's. It describes itself as "a new media company built on the ideals that were once the bedrock of American journalism." The investigations into CBS's conduct show how far this media network has strayed from basic journalistic principles.
The first part of the investigation was published on October 7, the anniversary of the massacre, and exposed turmoil behind the scenes of the CBS news department. A few days earlier, the interview program of Tony Dokoupil, a veteran and respected journalist-host, featured Black author Ta-Nehisi Coates, known for his strong views on Black discrimination. For instance, in the past, Coates compared discrimination to the Holocaust and argued that the US government should provide reparations to its Black citizens, as Germany did to Jews after the Holocaust.
Recently, following a visit to Ramallah last year, Coates published an anti-Israel book bordering on outright antisemitism. He describes Zionism as a movement of theft, doesn't mention a word about terrorism or the October 7 massacre, and defines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as "very simple – one side stole the other's property."
Dokoupil did not go easy on him and asked several tough questions, which made Coates sweat: about terrorism, about one Jewish state surrounded by hostile Arab states, about the October 7 massacre, and more. Coates dodged most of them and accused Dokoupil of aggression. He later complained about it to CBS executives. Dokoupil was summoned for a meeting with some of the network's senior journalists. The recording of the meeting was leaked to TFP, which revealed that Adrienne Roark, one of the network's managers, reprimanded Dokoupil.
After the publication, other media outlets - including AP, The New York Times, and others - reported the story, but this didn't prevent the scandal at CBS from continuing. Two days later, in an editorial meeting defined as closed but which also leaked to TFP, Dokoupil and his chief producer Shawna Thomas, who reportedly burst into tears, were again attacked with harsh words and high tones. But it didn't end there – the discussion raised the issue of the very right of the State of Israel to exist! Some of the network's journalists said it was correct and logical to bring up this issue for discussion, meaning to cast doubt on the very right of existence of the only Jewish state in the world.
After a fiery speech about the importance of journalistic neutrality, objectivity, and presenting the story rather than opinion, and amazingly, just after saying that all tough questions should be asked, she presented Dokoupil's interview as one that didn't meet journalistic standards, claiming that Dokoupil had injected his opinion and feelings into the interview. She did this because Dokoupil has two Jewish-Israeli children from his first wife living with her in Israel, and in the past, he was interviewed about his concern for their well-being and his connection with them.
Standing by Dokoupil in this debate was Jan Crawford, a veteran, respected journalist, and chief legal correspondent at CBS. Crawford said that Dokoupil's duty was exactly that – to confront the one-sided Coates with the other sides of the conflict. "It's not clear to me by what journalistic standards Dokoupil failed to meet. He presented to viewers the other side that Coates is trying to erase," she said. The managers chose not to respond to these statements in the conversation, and they were left hanging.
Israel's right to exist
After the publication, other media outlets - including AP, The New York Times, and others - reported the story, but this didn't prevent the scandal at CBS from continuing. Two days later, in an editorial meeting defined as closed but which also leaked to TFP, Dokoupil and his chief producer Shawna Thomas, who reportedly burst into tears, were again attacked with harsh words and high tones. But it didn't end there – the discussion raised the issue of the very right of the State of Israel to exist! Some of the network's journalists said it was correct and logical to bring up this issue for discussion, meaning to cast doubt on the very right of existence of the only Jewish state in the world.
CBS, it turns out, also doesn't recognize the Jewish right to Jerusalem. In a guideline distributed via email to the station's journalists, it was stated that Jerusalem should not be referred to as an Israeli city, or as a city located in the State of Israel – not just the eastern area of Jerusalem liberated in the Six-Day War, but all of Jerusalem. Mark Memmott, one of the network's news managers who sent the guideline, explained that it comes due to the city being in dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.
I wonder what King David would say about this from his grave on Mount Zion. This story illustrates the unprofessional and unethical conduct of so many media outlets in the democratic West, in a way that causes bias in their broadcasts and reports against Israel. This bias has far-reaching implications for international public opinion and Western governments' policies towards Israel and the conflict. From relying without verification on Hamas reports on casualty numbers and omitting the killing of terrorists, through caressing interviews devoid of tough and confrontational questions towards pro-Palestinian factors, to the blatant presentation of positions and opinions in studios by journalists who are supposed to refrain from doing so.
Such was the interview last week by Christiane Amanpour on CNN with Al-Jazeera "journalist" in Gaza, Abuo Azzum. Amanpour showed endless empathy – without presenting him with tough questions. For example, Abuo Azzum described the morning of October 7 as follows: "...we were living quietly and peacefully, until suddenly Israeli bombardments arrived, and we were forced to leave our homes..."
Not a word about Hamas or the rocket fire from Gaza and the atrocities committed on that terrible day. Amazingly, Amanpour ignored the atrocities and moved on to ask about Palestinian journalists injured in Gaza. She didn't ask about the "journalists" who covered and filmed the massacre in Jewish communities, she didn't try to get a response to his blatant false accusations and called him "world's only eyes and ears" on Gaza.
This is the betrayal of Western media (in no small part) of journalistic and democratic values.
