Crisis at CBS News as Exec Accused of Anti-Israel Bias Leaves Suddenly: Network Reels From ‘News Distortion’ Investigation, Trump Lawsuit

The embattled head of editorial and newsgathering at CBS News, Adrienne Roark, is out just seven months after she assumed the role, and four months after she scolded a news star for not living up to CBS News’ high standards when he asked tough questions of anti-Israel author T’Nehesi Coates.On Wednesday, Ms. Roark, effectively the number two news executive, told her bosses she is leaving CBS and returning to her roots in local news, taking a job at Tegna, according to Puck. Questions about her job security started swirling in October after her handling of staff uproar surrounding morning host Tony Dokoupil’s interview with Mr. Coates, the staunchly anti-Israel author best known for his advocacy of reparations being paid to Black people, a case he argued in a widely-read article for the far left Atlantic magazine.Mr. Dokoupil, a convert to Judaism who has s children who live in Israel with his ex-wife (he is now married to the anti-Trump MSNBC personality Katy Tur), interviewed Mr. Coates on September 30 and confronted the author about some of the virulently anti-Israel rhetoric in his new, bestselling book and said some of it sounded like it would be “in the backpack of an extremist.” Specifically, he asked why Mr. Coates did not mention the daily threats Israel faces or the first or second intifada while criticizing the Jewish state. Adrienne Roark, the departing head of newsgathering for CBS News, reprimanded anchor Tony Dokoupil for not meeting news standards in his interview with anti-Israel writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. The reprimand was made at CBS News’ morning meeting on the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Michele Crowe/CBS News The questions led to internal complaints, which made their way to CBS’ Race and Culture unit, which is tasked with screening CBS News content to determine if its “tone, content, and intention” meet the network’s standards for diversity, equity and inclusion and are fit to air. The unit did not find an issue with Mr. Dokoupil’s questions, but instead with his tone, even though observers such as the Washington Post called the exchange “calm” and “heartfelt” and Mr. Coates responded gamely.Those complaints eventually made their way up to the network’s top executives, who chose to address the interview, perhaps inadvertently, on the anniversary of October 7. During a staff meeting that day, a recording of which was leaked to the Free Press, Ms. Roark, a local TV news lifer who had no experience in network or national news coverage, seemed to rigidly read from pre-written remarks about how covering such anniversaries “requires empathy, respect, and a commitment to truth.”She then read from the CBS News handbook, invoked the legendary Walter Cronkite, and said that the network will “still ask tough questions” and “hold people accountable,” but that sometimes “we fail our audiences and each other.”“We’re at a tipping point. Many of you have reached out to express concerns about recent reporting. Specifically about the ‘CBS Mornings’ Coates interview last week as well as comments made coming out of some of our correspondents’ reporting,” Ms. Roark said before she threw Mr. Dokoupil under the bus and claimed his interview did not meet CBS News’ editorial standards.Kamala Harris sits down with Bill Whitaker for her ’60 Minutes’ interview. CBS NewsThe subsequent uproar over the reprimanding of Mr. Dokoupil was ultimately addressed by Shari Redstone, the owner of CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global. Ms. Redstone, who is Jewish and a strong supporter of Israel, publicly criticized the network’s leadership and took Mr. Dokoupil to lunch. Things got worse for CBS News on the antisemitism front when editorial standards “guidance” was leaked, also to the Free Press, in which CBS News executives warned against referring to Jerusalem as in Israel and against calling Hamas members “terrorists.”The chief executive of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, elevated Ms. Roark and Jennifer Mitchell to top positions at the network in August, cobbling together a leadership team with executives with no experience in a national newsroom. The three women had spent their careers in local news jobs — Ms. McMahon got her start doing marketing for a local TV station in Georgia — and were unfamiliar with the treachery and snares endemic to network television news. They’ve been dogged by controversy after controversy, most involving allegations of liberal and anti-Israel bias and giving too much leeway to the producers of “60 Minutes,” a managerial issue that has dogged CBS News for decades. A now-notorious “60 Minutes” interview from October with Vice President Harris is now the subject of a $20 billion lawsuit from President Trump and an official “news distortion” investigation by the FCC. “60 Minutes” was exposed as having made an edit to the taped interview, removing the top of the vice president’s answer to a question about Prime Minister Netanyahu, when she made “word salad,” thereby making her sound coherent. The CBS News personality Margaret Brennan, as she makes an observation about free speech and the Holocaust on her program, ‘Face the Nation’. CBS News“60 Minutes” is also under fire for an anti-Israel segment that aired in early January on State Department rank and file opposition to the U.S. role in the Israeli-Hamas war. The American Jewish Committee said the report was “shockingly one-sided, lacked factual accuracy, and relied heavily on misguided information.” The AJC further noted that the segment did not mention why the war was started in the first place and that it reported “unverified civilian casualties” in Gaza and “repeated the claim that Israel is blocking aid” even though such claims have been refuted. Meanwhile, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, asked why there was no mention of the hostages being held by Hamas. Then, this past Sunday, the CBS News personality Margaret Brennan, while attacking Vice President Vance during an interview with Secretary Rubio, made a bizarre effort to blame the Holocaust on “weaponized free speech.” Despite a national outcry, she has not apologized. Ms. Brennan was also fiercely criticized for “fact checking” Mr. Vance during the vice presidential debate despite CBS agreeing not to fact-check the candidates.The Dokoupil, “60 Minutes,” and Brennan scandals have generated massive headaches for CBS and Paramount Global, which is being acquired by the son of billionaire Larry Ellison and needs government approval for the transaction. The anti-Israel controversies have become a nightmare for Paramount in its Los Angeles and are a drag on the parent company, Puck reports.CBS News chief Wendy McMahon (L) received a strong vote of support from her boss, CBS chief George Cheeks, after she came under criticism for her deputy’s reprimand of CBS Mornings’ co-host Tony Dokoupil, for how he challenged Ta-Nehisi Coates over his virulent anti-Israel views. Getty ImagesRegarding the “60 Minutes” Israel-Hamas story, Ms. Roark reportedly further hurt her standing at the network earlier this year after she told the president of CBS, George Cheeks, that the segment would not cause any problems. Puck reports that Ms. Roark told Mr. Cheeks that instead of the segment leading to complaints that “60 Minutes” was engaged in anti-Israel bias, it might be accused of being too pro-Israel. The latter turned out not to be the case, and that segment became another source of controversy for CBS News. The network suffered another blow on Sunday when “60 Minutes” aired a glowing segment that focused on Germany’s restrictions on speech. As a part of the reporting, journalists tagged along with armed officers as they raided an individual’s apartment for allegedly posting a racist cartoon online. The segment ended with a German prosecutor expounding on why he thought it was good to throw people in jail for speech.CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment about Ms. Roark’s departure by the time of publication. Ms. Brennan confronting Secretary Rubio. CBS NewsMs. Roark’s departure is widely seen as a forced ouster as the network’s reputation has taken hit after hit. However, she likely will not be alone in getting the axe. Puck reports that Ms. McMahon may not survive the merger with Skydance, the company controlled by Larry Ellison’s son, David, as the new owners try to revamp CBS News.Besides her questionable leadership skills at the network, Ms. McMahon has reportedly been angering her bosses by dissenting from Ms. Redstone’s view that Paramount should try to settle with Mr. Trump and put the lawsuit behind them in the interest of closing the Skydance acquisition. Ms. Redstone believes that a settlement in the case, even as liberal legal scholars argue the lawsuit is meritless, would be a way to extend an olive branch to the new administration to ensure the Paramount-Skydance deal goes through. According to Puck, Ms. McMahon has not been shy about voicing her dissent and sharing with journalists what she views as the danger of settling the lawsuit.CBS News has been denounced by President Trump for its editing of the ’60 Minutes’ Kamala Harris interview. CBS NewsAnother figure who might get the boot is the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, who has been described as the “true editorial lead” of the network. On top of overseeing “60 Minutes” disastrous run the last few months, Mr. Owens was tasked by Ms. McMahon with revamping the perennially flailing “CBS Evening News.”So far, Mr. Owens’ ideas for changing the formatting to abandon the decades-old model of a singular anchor in favor of a dual anchor format introducing longer, taped features has made things even worse. In the second week since the change took place, the program’s ratings dropped by 5 percent, and they were down by 9 percent compared to the same time last year when the broadcast was hosted by Norah O’Donnell, who was pushed off the anchor desk because she made too much money. Critics have noted that the “Evening News” is no longer covering much news, instead leading the program with feature pieces on subject matter such as child literacy, despite the avalanche of news coming from Washington — the child literacy lead story ran on the same day as Elon Musk and his son, Lil X, made their extraordinary appearance alongside Mr. Trump in the Oval Office.By dismissing Mr. Owens and perhaps Ms. McMahon as part of a multimillion-dollar settlement with Mr. Trump, CBS would be acknowledging wrongdoing in the deceptive editing of the “60 Minutes” Harris interview, thereby making it harder to accuse the executives of bribery. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that top executives at Paramount are concerned they could face bribery charges if they settle the lawsuit at the same time as they insist it has no legal merit.Internally, Mr. Owens is facing blowback for somehow allowing the release of clips from the Harris interview, taking off the cutting room floor, on other CBS platforms. Despite the low audience for these platforms, the release of the clips exposed that the “60 Minutes” version of the interview had been deceptively edited. CBS’ refusal to release a transcript of the full interview – until the FCC formally demanded it – was also highly unusual and, observers say, suggestive of a pact between Ms. Harris’ advisers and CBS News executives about how the interview would be edited and distributed. Such arrangements are common in television for celebrity interviews, but an interview with a presidential candidate under fire for “word salad” is a different matter.

Crisis at CBS News as Exec Accused of Anti-Israel Bias Leaves Suddenly: Network Reels From ‘News Distortion’ Investigation, Trump Lawsuit

Crisis at CBS News as Exec Accused of Anti-Israel Bias Leaves Suddenly: Network Reels From ‘News Distortion’ Investigation, Trump Lawsuit

More from the New York Sun

Scandal-Plagued Congressman Cory Mills Loses GOP Primary Amid Ethics Probe

Socialist Wins Upset Victory in Florida Democratic Senate Primary, Upsetting Famous Trump Impeachment Witness

Gen Z Comedy’s Bumpy Leap From Online Reels to Live Theater

More on What the Press Won’t Tell You — and That’s the Strong Trumpian Economy

‘Serious Mistakes’ on Communist China Are Laid to Harvard

Vetting the Pied-à-Terre Tax

Trump Gambles — and Comes Up Snake Eyes — on a Powerful Prosecutorial Appointment in Nevada

Swedish Politician Wears Star of David During Debate To Highlight Antisemitism

More from the New York Sun

Scandal-Plagued Congressman Cory Mills Loses GOP Primary Amid Ethics Probe

Socialist Wins Upset Victory in Florida Democratic Senate Primary, Upsetting Famous Trump Impeachment Witness

Gen Z Comedy’s Bumpy Leap From Online Reels to Live Theater

More on What the Press Won’t Tell You — and That’s the Strong Trumpian Economy

‘Serious Mistakes’ on Communist China Are Laid to Harvard

Vetting the Pied-à-Terre Tax

Trump Gambles — and Comes Up Snake Eyes — on a Powerful Prosecutorial Appointment in Nevada

Swedish Politician Wears Star of David During Debate To Highlight Antisemitism