How the mighty have fallen! CBS today

One of the indicia of a society in decline is that the institutions that have been its pillars have morphed into pale shadows of their former selves. Academia in America is a clear current example of this.

Another prominent example of this sad reality is the decline and fall of America’s legacy media organizations. Of these, none was more respected nor venerable than CBS.

CBS, the home of Walter Cronkite, the most trusted voice in America, has just soiled itself by reproving a reporter who dared question Ta-Nehisi Coates. Coates, a beloved (by DEI champtions) demonizer on the Left of all things white, was questioned on the lack of any context in his recent book “The Message,” which is replete with falsehood (see The Big Lie by Jonathan Tobin) and condemns Israel for multiple sins of aggression without supplying the corresponding reality of the enemies that have been attacking it. (The writer spend all of 10 days in the country , ed)

In polite but pointed questioning by “CBS Mornings” host Tony Dokoupil, Coates was asked the kind of questions that CBS investigative reporters have been asking for decades.

One can readily imagine such reporters dissecting those who had written an anti LBGTQ+ screed, or writings impugning the integrity of various minority organizations.

However, here, because Coates is black, he was evidently supposed to go unquestioned. Or maybe it was because he was espousing the grievances of the Palestinian Arabs that no counter-narrative nor context should be provided.

The result was that Dokoupil was reproved by his editors, in a widely attended staff meeting that was akin to a professional lynching. He was said to have violated editorial standards for impartiality.

Fortunately, there were those who stood behind Dopukil, most prominently CBS’s largest shareholder and the CEO of its parent organization, Shari Redstone, who said that the host had not only done nothing wrong, but that he “did a great job with that interview.”

That defense would have probably put an end to the matter, at least as a front page story, except for the fact that in the course of dissecting the issue, it was revealed that CBS network senior director of standards and practices, Mark Memmott, had issued a directive telling employees not to reference Jerusalem as being part of Israel. This would a fortiori include the idea that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.

So, per CBS professional standards, Jerusalem is something of a figment in the imagination of messianists, settlers and other reprobates (those pesky Jews again). Memmott acknowledged that the US had recognized that Jerusalem was indeed Israel’s capital, which inferentially meant it was actually part of Israel...

However, as he pointed out, there was another perspective: that the Palestinian Arabs aspired to have a State, with its capital in East Jerusalem.

So, an aspiration, an ideological preference, means that an on the ground reality is to be denied.

It would be like saying that New York City does not really exist as part of the United States because there are still Indian tribes that aspire to reclaiming Manhattan, taken from them in the 1600’s for $24.

Of course, there are aspirations and there are aspirations. And as Dopoukil’s interview with Coates revealed, not all subjects are fit for contextual exploration. Some are deemed to be off limits and untouchable.

In other words, the attitude of the news people at CBS has created yet another double standard that Israel is forced to live with.

So, in response to all of this, I have a simple suggestion.

So long as CBS deems Jerusalem not to be part of Israel, we, ordinary people, consumers of information, people in every corner of the world, should deem CBS to no longer be a professional news organization, but a shabby propaganda front for pushing the Palestinian Arab narrative.

Why should we infer or assume any integrity coming from CBS if we know that they are willing and able to ignore reality in favor of an outcome that they would prefer? In the old days, Cronkite would have said, who cares what you want, or what you think, you are there to report the news, to convey the reality of the situation.

Sadly, those days have passed.

Media organizations know that people vote with their eyes and their clicks. The fact that viewership for CBS is a pale reflection of its former glory is proof that people have woken up to the reality that they are no longer watching objectivity, but rather the perspective from a particular silo that covers news items.

Now, unfortunately for them, CBS has tipped its hand, making it plainly evident that any pretenses to objectivity when it comes to the Middle East are just shams.

At a minimum, viewers need to flee from CBS. Better yet, contact them to express your revulsion at their lack of integrity.

Lastly, I suggest that when we hear the name CBS, we don’t think of the Columbia Broadcasting System, but rather Creating Bogus Stories.

Douglas Altabef is the Chairman of the Board of Im Tirtzu and a Director of the Israel Independence Fund