CBS News is self-immolating after reporter dared to make Ta-Nehisi Coates answer some difficult questions



A CBS News reporter made Ta-Nehisi Coates face some difficult questions about his recent focus on criticizing Israel, and the network began to implode in the aftermath.

Tony Dokoupil challenged the author while he was a guest on "CBS Mornings" for giving a one-sided view of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in his new book.

'There are times we fail our audiences and each other ... And we’re at a tipping point.'

"Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it? Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that want to eliminate it? Why not detail anything of the first and second intifada, the cafe bombings, the bus bombings, the little kids blown to bits?" Dokoupil asked.

"And is it because you just don't believe that Israel, in any condition, has a right to exist?" he added.

Coates responded that there was no "shortage" of people in the media with Dokoupil's narrative and that he wrote the book in order to hear the voice of the unheard and not to give an entire treatise of the situation in the Middle East.

While the exchange was only mildly contentious, CBS News is imploding over criticism about the interview.

Officials at the network reportedly apologized for the interview during an editorial meeting Monday and claimed that it did not meet up with the "editorial standards" of the network. The Free Press obtained audio from the meeting and published some of the exchange.

“We will still ask tough questions. We will still hold people accountable. But we will do so objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door," said Adrienne Roark, who is in charge of news gathering.

“There are times we fail our audiences and each other. We’re in one of those times right now, and it’s been growing. And we’re at a tipping point," she added.

CBS News then reportedly hired a DEI strategist to moderate the next discussion about the interview on Tuesday.

Coates is known as being an advocate of extreme critical race theory, including the historically dubious 1619 project.

The interview with Coats can be viewed in its entirety at the YouTube channel for CBS Mornings.

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Jill Biden gets testy when CBS anchor confronts her over Joe's dismal polling: 'Losing in all the battleground states'



First lady Jill Biden showed she was not happy that a CBS anchor chose to confront her on Wednesday about her husband's bad poll numbers.

After a segment on "CBS Mornings" highlighting the National Teacher of the Year winner, Biden briefly addressed the 2024 campaign. She offered a simplistic view of the forthcoming election, telling voters the choice is between "chaos," referring to Donald Trump, or "steady, wisdom, experience," referring to her husband, while predicting confidently that President Biden will be re-elected.

But CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil wasn't buying it.

"But when these polls — like the Wall Street Journal one — land in the White House, and [Biden's] losing in all the battleground states ..." he said before Jill cut him off.

"No, he's not losing in the battleground states," Jill interjected.

"All but one," Dokoupil fact checked.

"He is coming up," Jill continued, "and he's even or doing better. So, you know what? Once people start to focus in and they see their two choices, it's obvious that Joe will win this election."

The newest WSJ poll confirms what other polls surveying key battleground states have found: Trump is winning six of those seven states critical to winning the White House — at least for now.

The only state in which Trump does not have an outright lead is Wisconsin, where he and Biden are tied.

The poll's results:

  • Arizona:Trump (47%) v. Biden (42%)
  • Georgia: Trump (44%) v. Biden (44%)
  • Michigan:Trump (48%) v. Biden (45%)
  • Nevada: Trump (48%) v. Biden (44%)
  • North Carolina:Trump (49%) v. Biden (43%)
  • Pennsylvania: Trump (47%) v. Biden (44%)
  • Wisconsin: Trump (46%) v. Biden (46%)

It's not clear, then, why Jill Biden denied that President Biden is losing in the polls. Perhaps, she was not aware of the Wall Street Journal poll. On the other hand, Biden's dismal polling is not a new phenomenon; rather, it has characterized the entirety of the 2024 contest thus far.

The reason why the battleground state polls receive so much attention is because Biden won six of those seven states in 2020, only losing North Carolina to Trump.

That means whoever wins the lion's share of those states in November will be the probable victor. Losing them, then, is not a winning strategy.

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CBS anchor tries selling a good economy but quickly finds no voter agrees with him: 'People are really bummed out'



CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil discovered this week that he could not find a single person outside a New Hampshire grocery store who feels "good" about the economy.

The Biden administration claims the economy is doing great because of President Joe Biden, and if Americans don't feel the effects of the president's hard work, it's because it hasn't trickled down to them yet or it's because they're overly influenced by the media, which the administration claims are not doing a good enough job celebrating Biden's accomplishments.

But tell that to residents in Derry, New Hampshire.

Dokoupil, a co-anchor on "CBS Mornings," recently spoke to voters outside a grocery store there, and he could not find anyone feeling good about the economy despite claiming the state of the economy is "good news" for the president.

"I don't know what pocketbook they’re looking at, but it ain't mine," one voter told Dokoupil of the Biden administration's narrative. She explained she has to work two jobs to make ends meet.

Two other voters, a mother and a son, explained that six people live in their house — and five of them work.

"You know, it’s like, if you go back, like, 30 years, two incomes would have covered all of our expenses, probably," the son told Dokoupil.

— (@)

Later, Dokoupil summarized his experience talking with voters outside the grocery store.

"People are really bummed out about the economy here in New Hampshire. Even if the overall big picture numbers are going in the right direction, and even if people's own personal experiences in general are going OK, there's a lot of gloom," he said. "Food prices, for example, are generally going up. And we talked to a bunch of people outside of a grocery store in Derry, New Hampshire — we couldn't find anybody feeling good about the economy."

Rather than recognizing the real issue — that prices are still going up despite inflation cooling — Dokoupil dismissed annoyance at the economy as "just human nature."

"Psychologically, you go into a store — if you're paying more for items that you get every week, that really sticks with you, it really annoys you, it gets you down. People were upset about it," he said.

"Yeah, they're making it. But are they bothered by the fact that frozen OJ has gone up double digits and that steak on Fridays — up double digits? Absolutely. And that's really driving people's perspective on things," he explained.


It's true that, in general, Americans are beginning to feel more positive about the direction of the economy. Whether Biden is responsible for that is debatable.

But it's hard to feel great about the cost of life today when you can remember prices of food, clothes, and other items before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and subsequent inflation crisis.

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Tom Cotton puts on masterclass to shut down CBS anchor connecting Paul Pelosi attack to political rhetoric



Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) decisively shut down a CBS News anchor on Tuesday for trying to connect Republican rhetoric to the attack on Paul Pelosi.

What happened?

Speaking on "CBS Mornings," anchor Tony Dokoupil asked Cotton about the attack. At first, Cotton described it as "just one more example of what we should always do with violent criminals, which is throw the book at them."

"We should do the same thing to the person who tried to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh. The same thing to all the agitators who are protesting in violation of federal law outside of justices' [homes,]" he added. "We need to crack down and get tough on crime in this country."

Then Dokoupil got to his point, claiming that Republicans are voicing the concern that "the temperature in the country is just too high, the misinformation is just too much, and that we’re going to see more, not less political violence going forward."

Cotton, however, did not take the bait, explaining Republicans should still campaign on legitimate election issues.

Well, you see, deranged lunatics attack both Democrats and Republicans alike. I don’t think John Boehner 12 years ago pointing out that Nancy Pelosi passed Obamacare, or Kevin McCarthy now pointing out she passed trillions of dollars of spending that causes inflation led to this apparent nudist activist breaking into her home. The simplest way to stop crimes like this is to get tough on crime. It’s not to try to stop campaigning in the middle of a campaign seven days before an election on legitimate issues of public concern.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton discusses midterm elections and new book www.youtube.com

But Dokoupil did not stop there.

He followed up to confirm whether Cotton does not see a connection between the Paul Pelosi attack and "people denying the results of the 2020 election." The question itself presupposed a connection exists.

"You don’t see a connection between the political rhetoric and the acts of this individual and other individuals?" Dokoupil asked.

"No more connection than Chuck Schumer going to the steps of the Supreme Court and saying that Brett Kavanaugh wouldn’t know what hit him if he issued rulings that Chuck Schumer disagreed with," Cotton fired back.

"And what do you have? A left-wing hitman showing up at Brett Kavanaugh’s house to assassinate him," he added. "The answer to all of these crimes is to get tough on crime and throw the book at these criminals."

Dokoupil then dropped the topic and moved on to discussing Cotton's latest book.

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CBS host offers bizarre excuse for Walgreens shoplifter caught on camera: ‘You’re getting probably something you need’



Tony Dokoupil, co-host of "CBS This Morning," appeared to defend a man who made headlines this week after brazenly shoplifting from a San Francisco-area Walgreens.

What's a brief history here?

Footage of the incident went viral Tuesday, showing an unidentified male on a bicycle filling a trash bag with what appeared to be hair products.

Two people — including a store security guard — filmed the suspect while he took his time placing items in the sack and watched him as he biked down the aisle and out of the store.

This just happened at the @Walgreens on Gough & Fell Streets in San Francisco. #NoConsequences @chesaboudin https://t.co/uSbnTQQk4J

— Lyanne Melendez (@LyanneMelendez) 1623711530.0

What are the details?

Dokoupil and others discussed the incident Wednesday morning on the daytime TV show.

After the clip aired, Dokoupil began, "So, crime is never justified of course."

Co-host Anthony Mason added, "I will say that I think they could have made a little better effort to stop that bicycle. I mean, you could have disrupted that bike."

Dokoupil added, "Well, I mean, I don't know. You don't need to be a hero over some toothbrushes or whatever it is. ... That reads also as an act of desperation. I mean, you're not getting rich off what you take from a Walgreens, you're getting probably something you need."

Co-host Vlad Duthiers interjected, "I mean, a bagful? They looked like hair products ... which are valuable, and he's filling his bag full of them."

Co-host Adriana Diaz pointed out that the items in the bag were, indeed, hair products and not a necessity as toothbrushes or over the counter medication might be.

CBS’s @TonyDokoupil excuses massive shoplifting from Walgreens in San Francisco: “That reads also as an act of desp… https://t.co/6T3ir2lvBw

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) 1623851886.0

Anything else to know?

Lyanne Melendez, a KGO-TV reporter who saw the suspect shoving merchandise into the trash bag, told her station that the suspect — who remains unnamed at the time of this reporting — "sort of ran into me with his bicycle" on his way out of the store.

"It's hard for me as a journalist to say 'I won't be involved, I can't get involved,' I have to be sort of neutral, but this is also my city," Melendez added. "I live in this city, and I see this constantly. Not only Walgreens, but cars, and my garage ... has been broken into twice."

She also pointed out that such crimes are becoming commonplace across the city.

"At what point do we say, 'Enough is enough, we want our city back?'" Melendez asked.

A crime-ridden city

On Wednesday, San Francisco Police Lt. Tracy McCray told Fox News that she has gotten "used to" shoplifters taking what they want in stores across the cities without facing consequences.

"What happened in that Walgreens has been going on in that city for quite a while," McCray said. "I'm used to it. I mean, we can have a greatest hits compilation of people just walking in and cleaning out the store shelves and security guards, the people who work there, just standing by helplessly because they can't do anything."

All fingers, however, seem to point to District Attorney Chesa Boudin as the cause of the behavior.

San Francisco Police Officers Association President Tony Montoya slammed Boudin's laissez-faire policies, which he said are promoting a "criminals-first" agenda.

"This brazen criminal behavior is endured every single day by San Franciscans and it is the direct result of District Attorney Chesa Boudin and his enablers' criminals-first agenda," Montoya said.

McCray agreed, and said that Boudin's agenda is destroying the city because criminals are not being prosecuted for "any crimes as a felony or commercial burglary," and said that such theft cases "get slapped down to a misdemeanor."

"Not enough cops out. You try to put a cop at every corner, which is unrealistic," McCray added."If you steal below $950, you get a citation and you just get to walk away and if you don't show up to court, guess what, maybe you get a bench warrant or maybe they even toss that before it even gets to that point. Anybody can come in and do whatever they want."