Paramount Global co-CEO George Cheeks issued a memo to his staff this afternoon defending CBS News executives for criticizing the way CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokuopil handled an interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates last week.
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Cheeks' statement came after Shari Redstone, in an appearance at New York Advertising Week, stood by Dokoupil and said it was a "mistake" in the way the backlash over the interview was handled. In an internal meeting on Monday, CBS News and Stations President Wendy McMahon and Adrienne Roark, president of editorial and newsgathering, said in the staff meeting that the interview did not meet the network's editorial standards.
"There is a strong and growing disagreement within CBS News that needed to be addressed in an editorial meeting," Cheeks wrote in his memo. "This should lead to further substantive dialogue about perceptions of inconsistent treatment, implicit biases, and the important standards our newsroom has established to create barriers to fairness and objectivity."
He added: "To be clear, this was never about CBS News' right to ask the hard question; that is and always will be the standard. Our anchors and correspondents will continue to ask the hardest questions about the most important and complex issues. I am incredibly proud of CBS News and the way they are rising to the moment, even in the most challenging times."
