Ta-Nehisi Coates revealed that he felt sorry for “CBS Mornings” co-hosts Gayle King and Nate Burleson during his recent and much-talked-about interview.
The acclaimed writer appeared on the morning show last week to promote his new book, “The Message,” and it was during that appearance that the interview turned tense when morning anchor Tony Dokoupil challenged Coates about his views on Israel and Palestine.
In a teaser for the forthcoming Oct. 10 episode of “What Now? with Trevor Noah,” the comedian and former host of “The Daily Show” brings up the interview. “I don’t think you understand the shock wave that interview created, not because of what you said, but because of the way people felt like you were treated,” Noah told Coates.
The Spotify original weekly podcast then replayed the clip where Dokoupil suggested that when reading “The Message,” the content of a particular section “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.”
Coates said he expected criticism of his book. “I figured at some point it was gonna be a fight. You know, I didn’t know it was gonna be right then, but I figured at some point it was gonna be a fight.”
Coates then shared his thoughts on what went wrong in the interview and brought up King. He said the “CBS Mornings” host had gone through the book and told him what she planned to ask him. Coates also referred to King having handwritten notes. “I think while on the one hand, he (Dokoupil) probably did me a service by just kind of commandeering that interview, I don’t think he did Nate and Gayle a service, and I’m really, really sorry for them.”
The Washington Post reported that CBS News executive Adrienne Roark said during an all-staff meeting Monday that an internal review determined that Dokoupil’s interview was not in line with the network’s commitment to neutrality.
By Amaris Castillo, Poynter contributor
Unionized Pittsburgh Post-Gazette workers mark two-year strike anniversary
Unionized media workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rallied outside of the paper’s building Tuesday to mark the two-year anniversary of their strike.
Approximately 80 advertising and production workers walked off the job Oct. 6, 2022, after the company terminated their health care plans. Roughly 60 journalists at the paper followed suit two weeks later in protest of stalled contract negotiations. The Post-Gazette work stoppage is the first open-ended strike at an American newspaper since 2000 and is currently the country’s longest-running strike.
Of the five Post-Gazette unions that initially went on strike, one — a Teamsters local representing truck drivers — settled with the company in April. The other four unions — including roughly 60 employees, 29 of whom belong to the paper’s editorial union — are still on strike, according to NewsGuild organizer Jacob Klinger.
Since October 2022, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh’s members have maintained the same demands to end the strike: the restoration of the union’s contract from 2017, a return to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract, and the reinstatement of their colleagues’ health care coverage.
With each side unwilling to budge, some union members have pinned their hopes on the courts to end the strike. In August, the National Labor Relations Board sought an injunction to compel the Post-Gazette to bargain new contracts with the four unions and return the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh to their 2017 contract, among other measures.
From the start, the strike has been deeply divisive among editorial workers. The strike vote passed 38-36, and roughly 40 journalists decided to continue working. In the years since, the Post-Gazette has hired dozens of replacement workers. Those workers have faced some backlash from sources. For example, editorial page editor Brandon McGinley wrote in an August column that Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign has barred Post-Gazette journalists from campaign events.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spokesperson Allison Latcheran noted in an emailed statement that even as some workers strike, the paper has been named News Organization of the Year by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association for three consecutive years. “We are very proud of the commitment to sustained excellence demonstrated by our employees every day.”
Since Post-Gazette workers went on strike, a handful of other newsrooms have launched their own open-ended strikes and dozens more have held one-day work stoppages. Unionized Long Beach Post reporters have been on strike since March, when the company instituted mass layoffs, and workers at the New Yorker and the Alden-owned Southern California News Group newspapers are currently threatening strikes. Tech workers at The New York Times have also threatened to strike.
By Angela Fu, media business reporter
