CBS doesn’t want to admit that Jerusalem is in Israel

CBS News, the news division of the U.S. network CBS, instructed its journalists not to refer to Jerusalem as part of Israel. This has sparked outrage on social media and from other journalists.

This is not the first controversy that CBS has been involved in over its coverage of Israel's war on terror in the Middle East following the October 7 attacks. Recently, there have been internal conflicts over an interview conducted by an anchor with a prominently anti-Israel journalist.

In late August, Mark Memmott, senior director of standards at CBS News, sent reporters an e-mail instructing them to avoid saying that the Israeli capital is in Israel. Jerusalem’s status is one of the key issues surrounding the conflict, a reference to the Palestinian claim to the eastern sector of the city as the capital for a future state.

In 2017, during the Trump administration, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The following year, the U.S. moved its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

CBS’s directive has sparked outrage and strong criticism on social media and among journalists.

Guy Benson, a contributor to Fox News, said that "Jerusalem is not only in Israel, it is the capital of Israel. What on earth is happening at CBS?"

Adam Rubinstein, contributing editor of The Free Press, stated that 'CBS' is asking its journalists to "deny reality."

David Harsanyi, senior editor of the Washington Examiner, even went so far as to say that "we can stop referring to CBS employees as journalists."

Internal tensions following an interview with an anti-Israeli journalist

The controversy surrounding the briefing regarding the status of Jerusalem is not the only controversy affecting CBS.

Recently, Tony Dokoupil, co-host of CBS Mornings, interviewed journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the anti-Israel book The Message. During the conversation, Dokoupil expressed some criticism of the writer, suggesting, among other things, that his positions are equivalent to those of extremists, while Coates insisted on the well-known leftist narrative about Israeli apartheid.

After the interview, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported that Dokoupil had received complaints about the tone and body language used during his conversation with Coates. He was allegedly summoned and reprimanded by CBS’s Race and Culture Unit. 

However, the Israeli media outlet claimed that a source familiar with the matter confirmed that Dokoupil would not be sanctioned and that Jan Crawford, CBS legal correspondent, defended the anchor during a video call with the network's staff. It also indicated that Shari Restonic, president of Paramount Global, the media conglomerate to which CBS belongs, called the reprimand a "mistake."