Ta-Nehisi Coates interview did not meet editorial standards, CBS executives say

CBS News executives told employees that an interview with author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, where he was accused by a programme host of "extremist" views in his writing about Palestinians, did not meet the network's editorial standards, according to several reports.

“We all must conduct ourselves in a way that avoids raising any questions about our journalistic independence and integrity,” Adrienne Roark, head of newsgathering for CBS News and stations, told staff on Monday.

“We are here to report news without fear or favour. 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 continued.

Last month, CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil faced heavy backlash from social media users who accused him of unprofessionalism and bias for his 30 September interview with Coates about his latest book, The Message, a collection of essays about the author's experiences in Senegal, the American South and Palestine.

Dokoupil said that the section of the book on Israel and Palestine - where the author describes his observations about conditions in the occupied West Bank, which he calls a system of apartheid - "would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist".

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