Gayle King finally broke her silence on “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil’s fiery interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates and its aftermath — calling it a “learning” opportunity for the staff.
King, who spoke on a panel at the Paley Center in Midtown Tuesday night, said her show will not “shy away from hard conversations” but that they must also be mindful of how they approach “hot-button issues,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Life is hard. The news is hard. Sometimes, you have hard conversations on television,” King said, referring to Tony Dokoupil’s hard-hitting interview with Coates over his controversial book “The Message,” which argues that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is immoral.
“We know that it comes with a great responsibility. And we’re mindful of that. Certain topics you know are just hot-button issues You have to be very careful about how you ask the questions, how the questions are received,” King added.
“I think we don’t shy away from hard conversations either. So, I think it’s been a learning thing for everybody,” she said.
King was on the panel with fellow “CBS Mornings” anchors Nate Burleson and Dokoupil, as well as featured host Vladimir Duthiers and the show’s executive producer Shawna Thomas.
Thomas added that there have been many “hard” conversations both internally and externally, about the interview — which upset some staffers over Dokoupil’s line of questioning and treatment of Coates — and she expects those to continue.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from those,” Thomas said. “I’m hoping those conversations make us better journalists and better listeners.”
During the interview, Dokoupil asked some pointed questions to Coates about the book, including “Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it?”
He also told Coates: “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.”
After the interview, CBS News executives fielded complaints from staffers and then held a meeting on the unfortunate date of Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. At meeting, CBS News CEO and her number two, Adrienne Roark, called out Dokoupil, who is Jewish, for the interview, saying it did not meet the network’s editiorial standards.
Those words were questioned internally by supporters of Dokoupil at the meeting, as well as by Shari Redstone, the chair of CBS-parent Paramount Global, who backed the anchor, saying he had done a “great job” with the interview. Redstone added that CBS made a “mistake” in reprimanding Dokoupil and in saying it did not meet their standards.
Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks rushed to the defense of McMahon, backing her decision, while also saying the company needs to have “substantive dialogue” about perceptions of bias and “inconsistent treatment.”
The whole snafu revealed deep tensions inside the Tiffany Network over the personal views of the staff and how the Israel-Hamas War has been covered.
McMahon, who was at the Paley panel, did not speak. The co-hosts on the panel expressed their respect and friendship with each other. They did not speak further about the Coates interview other than the brief responses by King and Thomas to a question from moderator Lisa Ling, who is a contributor at CBS News.
King’s comments on the matter are noteworthy, as the well-liked anchor has remained tight-lipped following a recent interview with Coates, who insinuated that she prepped him ahead of the segment.
On Trevor Noah’s podcast, Coates said: “The thing that went wrong in that interview, more than anything, as far as I’m concerned, is, and I know she’s getting a lot of stuff right now, so I really wanna say this. Gayle King is a great journalist and a great interviewer.”
He continued: “And Gayle came behind the stage before we went [on] and she had gone through the book, and I’m not saying she agreed with the book. She was like, ‘I’m gonna ask you about this. I’m gonna ask you about that.’”