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The Ta-Nehisi Coates-CBS Disgrace: A Case Study in Mainstream Media’s Spinelessness
In a seven-minute interview on September 30, CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil pressed author Ta-Nehisi Coates on the most contentious parts of his new essay collection, The Message, which tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The fallout from that interview continues to reverberate, with Paramount Global’s CEO, Shari Redstone reportedly admitting that CBS’s decision to reprimand Dokoupil was a “mistake.”
Dokoupil’s line of questioning was direct but fair: “Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it?”
The CBS journalist also noted that the book “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” highlighting its omission of any mention of Palestinian terrorism.
Instead of engaging in an open debate, The Free Press revealed how CBS succumbed to internal backlash and forced Dokoupil to apologize. This reprimand of a journalist for merely doing his job reveals a glaring double standard in how major networks handle guests’ views on Israel.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
CBS staffers weren’t upset because Coates was unfairly treated, but likely because it might have been the first time he was genuinely challenged.
For years, Coates has enjoyed kid-glove treatment from a media eager to praise him.
Take his recent interview with Chris Hayes on MSNBC.
Hayes echoed nearly everything Coates said, even going so far as to declare that Israel is committing a “moral abomination.” When asked if critics might accuse him of engaging in a “one-sided propaganda tour of Israel,” Coates was handed a convenient opportunity to deny it, invoking segregation and apartheid: “I am against segregation. I am against apartheid. I am against Jim Crow. Nothing will make that OK.”
This false equivalence — comparing Israel to apartheid-era South Africa and the segregationist United States — went unchallenged, presented as unvarnished truth.
Similarly, an interview between Coates and journalist Michel Martin on Christiane Amanpour’s show was another exercise in softball journalism. When discussing Coates’ comparison of Israel to Jim Crow America, Martin lobbed a question tailor-made to invite more inflammatory rhetoric: “You say it’s a place where the glare of racism burned more intensely than anywhere else in your life. Tell us why.”
This provided Coates the platform to make blatantly inaccurate claims about “roads only for Israeli settlers” and separate roads for Palestinians — an anti-Israel trope. The interview concluded with Martin summing up Coates’ position: “So your core conclusions are: it’s an apartheid regime, and the life there for Palestinians is unbearable.”
Coates responded with more unchecked hyperbole: “It’s unbearable. It’s demeaning. It’s dehumanizing. And it’s morally unjustifiable.”
Unbelievable. @CBSNews reprimanded a journalist for doing his job—challenging @TaNehisiCoats‘ limited understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. https://t.co/ZBEBcReNjg
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 8, 2024
Then, in an October 3 interview on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart offered Coates near-universal praise, applauding him for his supposed bravery: “Through your discomfort … you’ve done the most important thing, which is trying to advance an understanding of a complexity that we haven’t figured out in 10,000 years.”
Stewart’s flattery only underscores the absurdity of the situation: Coates is being lauded for “figuring out” millennia of conflict during a 10-day trip to Israel.
The contrast becomes even more stark when comparing this fawning treatment to a CBS interview between Gayle King and Thomas Hand, whose daughter Emily was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7.
In discussing life in Israel before the massacre, Hand reflected: “The greatest movement towards peace that Israel ever did was pulling out of Gaza. Israel has never made such a big step towards peace, and it got us nothing. They didn’t make even a baby step back toward peace.”
WATCH: CBS’s Gayle King LECTURES the father of a eight-year-old Israeli girl being held hostage by Hamas that “innocent children in Pales –Palestinians…are dying” too just as “innocent Israeli children” and, b/c of “politics,” “no one seems to be able to say enough, stop” pic.twitter.com/5qkg2QUMNn
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 15, 2023
Rather than allowing this poignant statement to stand, King pivoted to ask about innocent Palestinian children dying. Hand’s response was as raw as it was revealing: “I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back, whatever it takes.”
CBS staffers said nothing about this segment. But Coates being asked a question? That crossed the line.
The CBS-Coates controversy perfectly encapsulates a troubling dynamic within mainstream media: challenge pro-Israel narratives, and you’ll be praised for your courage. Question anti-Israel falsehoods, and you’ll be forced to apologize.
Ta-Nehisi Coates has been elevated as an intellectual authority, yet his writings expose a limited grasp of both history and modern geopolitics.
Sadly, the erosion of journalistic integrity in the United States means that anyone daring to point out uncomfortable truths is treated as a pariah. Dokoupil’s questioning exposed the media’s weakness, and they couldn’t tolerate it.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post The Ta-Nehisi Coates-CBS Disgrace: A Case Study in Mainstream Media’s Spinelessness first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.