It’s been over two weeks since Tony Dokoupil‘s CBS Mornings interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates set off an internal firestorm at CBS News.
Now, The Wall Street Journal reports that CBS News president Wendy McMahon is requesting an editorial review of the newsroom’s reporting process, asking journalists to address concerns about fairness and objectivity.
McMahon’s request looks beyond the Dokoupil/Coates interview to include the backlash the network received over a recent 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. In the wake of that interview, the network aired two different versions of the candidate’s response to a question about Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, sparking an objection from Donald Trump‘s campaign.
TVNewser reached out to CBS News for comment about the Journal piece, but no response was received at press time.
McMahon has overseen CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures for over a year. Prior to that, she held the title of president and co-head of CBS News and Station, a role she shared with Neeraj Khemlani until his exit in August 2023.
Since then, she has further engrained herself into the inner workings of CBS News, realigning how the news organization operates and overseeing network broadcasts, including flagship franchises like CBS Mornings, CBS Evening News, and Face the Nation.
Days after the CBS Mornings segment aired, McMahon and her deputy Adrienne Roark took part in a call with staffers where they indicated that that the interview did not meet the network’s editorial standards. That decision earned a rebuke from Paramount Global head Shari Redstone, who publicly defended Dokoupil during an Advertising Week panel.
Redstone also expressed her displeasure to Paramount Global co-CEO George Cheeks, who has stood behind McMahon and Roark. Paramount is in the process of being acquired by Skydance Media, and Redstone will exit the company once the deal is completed in 2025.
Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that McMahon was set to meet with Paramount Global’s next president, Jeff Shell, this week, The former NBC Universal CEO and Paramount’s other new owners—most notably David Ellison—are on a familiarization tour of the media conglomerate that includes CBS News.
