On Tuesday, Gayle King and CBS Mornings executive producer Shawna Thomas appeared on a panel moderated by Lisa Ling. King and Thomas briefly addressed the controversial interview they had with Ta-Nehisi Coates earlier this month. The pair also joined fellow CBS Mornings anchors Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil, alongside host Vladimir Duthiers, at the panel in Manhattan’s Paley Center.
“Life is hard. The news is hard. Sometimes, you have hard conversations on television,” King said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “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. I think we don’t shy away from hard conversations either. So, I think it’s been a learning thing for everybody.”
The controversial conversation happened when Coates appeared on CBS Mornings to promote his new book The Message, which condemns Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. During the interview, Dokoupil, who is Jewish, challenged Coates on his stance.
“Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil asked. “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.”
As some viewers expressed their disappointment with how the interview unfolded, CBS executives later acknowledged that the interview failed to meet editorial standards. However, Shari Redstone, chair of Paramount Global, said Dokoupil did a “great job,” disagreeing with the company’s decision to reprimand Dokoupil.
During Tuesday’s panel, Thomas said the company has had some internal conversations since the interview.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from those,” Thomas said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m hoping those conversations make us better journalists and better listeners.”
Burleson, Dokoupil and Duthiers didn’t make any comments about the interview during Tuesday’s panel, Deadline reported.
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