Shari Redstone Defends CBS Anchor Tony Dokoupil’s Interview Of Ta-Nehisi Coates – “I Frankly Think Tony Did A Great Job”
Shari Redstone stood firmly behind CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil for a recent interview that his own network executives said did not meet editorial standards.
“I frankly think Tony did a great job with that interview. I think he handled himself and showed the world a role model of what civil discourse is. He showed that there was accountability, that there is a system of checks and balances, and frankly, I was very proud of the work that he did,” Redstone said at appearance at New York Advertising Week. She said had conveyed her thoughts to Dokoupil.
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As Redstone’s family company Paramount Global heads into a new era with Skydance, Redstone is focusing more on issues around anti-semitism, something she’s been involved with for years. She sat for a Q&A with Matthew Segal, co-founder and co-CEO of ATTN, a social storytelling media company and content studio, to discuss the role that content and civics education can have in driving multi-cultural awareness.
Dokoupil, however, took up a bit chunk of the session after top CBS News executives told staffers on a call Monday morning that a contentious interview exchange between the CBS Mornings co-anchor and the author over Coates’ book that delves into the Israel-Palestinian conflict did not meet the network’s editorial standards.
A CBS Mornings source said that the Coates interview was not the only instance in which concerns have been raised over Dokoupil expressing his personal opinion. The source said that there were also complaints to Standards & Practices Although Redstone leads the company, there is a wall between corporate and the news division, the source noted.
Redstone said flatly, “As hard as it was, frankly, for me to go against the company, because I love this company, and I believe in it, and I think we have a great, great executive team, I think they made a mistake here.”
“And I just want to be clear that I’ve been working with the CEOs. I’ve been working with the woman who does a lot of our diversity training, and I think we all agree that this was not handled correctly, and we all agree that something needs to be done. I don’t have editorial control. I am not an executive, but I have a voice in our platform, like all of us, and as you may know, I don’t hesitate to use it.”
Asked how it should haev been handled, she said:
“Well, I don’t know all of the specifics, so it’s really hard to say exactly what they did. I kind of know, not a lot more than what you guys do. But what I do need to say is one, we need to have better education for people. People need to understand the core issues and what they’re talking about. We need to have better education about how to challenge people in a civil way, which, frankly, I think Tony did.
“And we need to have, most important, standards that are applied to everyone on all issues. You can’t have one standard for somebody who has one position and another standard for somebody who has another position. And I think the most important thing that can come out of this is that we all recognize that we need to provide a platform where people can have a voice, where they can have civil discourse, where they can challenge each other. And we need to make sure that we give equal opportunity for this, regardless of what side of the issue you’re on.”
“And by the way, I’m very glad that we had [Coates] on our show. I’m very glad that we gave him an opportunity to speak. But we have to also provide the opportunity to challenge him on what he says, just, frankly, challenge everybody, whether they’re politicians, friends or in any arena that we deal with … We can all do a better job, and that’s what we all have to strive to do.”
That fits with her broader push. “I’ve been doing a lot -of thinking of the connection between the decline and our democratic institutions in the rise of hate and anti-semitism, and I think one of the reasons why it’s on the rise is that we have lost the ability to have civil discourse.”
Paramount cleared the way for its long-gestating sale to David Ellison’s Skydance in late August and the merger now awaits regulatory approval. Until then, the company is being run by a trio of CEOs Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy.
She said she is not disappearing from sight at the company she inherited from her founder father Sumner Redstone. “I promised everybody at the company I will never disappear in terms of being your advocate and in terms of helping you be who you need to be and you want to be in this company. Whether I am a controlling shareholder, a board member, or anybody else, I love this company. I will always be there for the team and our legacy will continue and I will always try to ensure that that happens.”
Redstone described her post-Paramount life as looking like 80% philanthropy and 20% business. She’s active in early eduction programs focusing on multi-cultural and religious exchanges, and has launched a film impact series, among other initiatives. She’ll look to scale up some of these projects and work harder to fight anti-semitism with education and civic discourse. She felt Congressional testimony by a handful of top college presidents post-October 7 showed “a total lack of civil and moral leadership”, and was a wakeup call. “You see a problem and you need to address it.”
She’s also become a Broadway producer, she noted, with one play, Job, closing this month and the second Sunset Boulevard, opening.
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