The newly empowered leadership at CBS is considering “blowing the place up” in order to jettison the plethora of “woke” policies corroding the media institution from within, according to sources who spoke with the New York Post.
A line was crossed when several executives chided “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil for pressing an anti-Israel author about his writings on the anniversary of the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attack. The rebuke comes at a perilous time for the woke leaders who may find themselves on the chopping block amid CBS’s pending sale to Skydance, the independent studio owned by film director David Ellison, son of the legendary investor and staunch Israel ally, Larry Ellison. Post columnist Charles Gasparino reported that Ellison, Sr. is the individual putting up most of the money for the $28 billion deal.
One person familiar with the Ellisons told Gasparino that they are acutely aware of the anti-Israel biases creeping into its coverage. “They’re thinking about blowing the place up,” the individual said when asked about their plans. That could lead to the ouster of CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon who has been more than complacent in allowing criticism of pro-Israel reporting to go unheeded.
Even the Redstone family, which is the nominal owner of CBS through parent company Paramount, admitted that the internal feud has become a black eye for the network. McMahon and her underlings “made a mistake here” when they critiqued Dokoupil, who is Jewish, said mogul Sumner Redstone. Her comment amounted to a rejection of former Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks who weighed in with a woke memo that largely defended CBS’s decision to reprimand Dokoupil for pushing back on his anti-Israel guest.
RedBird Capital, which is joining Ellison, Sr. in financing the deal, is said to be in agreement that the “woke mind virus” at CBS must be exterminated, according to the Post. A second instance of liberal bias both cite is Harris’s recent interview with “60 Minutes” which was found to be edited differently for TV and streaming services. Rather than air Harris’s ham-handed answers unedited, the show’s producers are accused of shaping a favorable answer with sleight-of-hand editing. Going unmentioned is the other instance of anti-Trump coverage by anchor Scott Pelley. After “60 Minutes” aired its interview with Vice President Harris, Pelley explained that former President Donald Trump had refused the program’s request for equal time, “saying he needed an apology” from CBS “for its interview in 2020.” Trump claims correspondent Lesley Stahl said in that interview that Hunter Biden’s controversial laptop came from Russia. She never said that.” Clips from the interview show Stahl pushing back, claiming the laptop “can’t be verified” even though it was later deemed by federal authorities to be authentic.
The network’s pricey newsroom isn’t worth the headaches, according to the source close to the Ellisons. “If CBS is going to survive, it’s got to get back to down-the-middle programming,” they said.
