CBS News reportedly instructed its staffers not to refer to Jerusalem as being part of Israel as the network faces mounting internal pressure over its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mark Memmott, CBS News’ senior director of standards, sent an email to all CBS News employees in late August with a list of terms to “be careful with” when “we talk or write about the news” pertaining to the war in Gaza, according to a report in the Free Press.
“Jerusalem” made the list of contentious terms.
“Do not refer to it as being in Israel,” Memmott reportedly wrote in the memo.
Memmott acknowledged the US Embassy in Jerusalem and that the Trump administration had validated Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the report said.
“But its status is disputed,” Memmot reportedly wrote. “The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
“Israel regards Jerusalem as its ‘eternal and undivided’ capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem — occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war — as the capital of a future state.”
CBS News did not respond to requests for comment.
Congress acknowledged Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 1995, when it adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act.
In 2017, President Donald Trump formally recognized the holy city as Israel’s capital.
But instead of instructing reporters not to refer to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Memmott’s memo told journalists not to acknowledge that Jerusalem is located in Israel at all.
Meanwhile, tensions have been brewing at the network after “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil grilled journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates on his anti-Israel book “The Message.”
Dokoupil, a convert to Judaism whose ex-wife lives in Israel with their two children, said Coates’ book “would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist” because of its stance on Israel.
During the CBS interview, Coates argued that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was abhorrent and compared their experiences to those of black people in the United States and in Africa.
In his book, he condemns what he called Israeli “apartheid” in its administration of the territories captured in the Six-Day War of 1967.
CBS brass reportedly reprimanded Dokoupil for his tough line of questioning toward Coates.
“Why leave out that Israel is surrounded by countries that want to eliminate it? Why leave out that Israel deals with terror groups that want to eliminate it?” Dokoupil had asked Coates.
On Tuesday, the morning show anchor told staffers during a teary meeting that he “regretted” putting them in a difficult position, especially fellow journalists who are overseas and in danger, The Post previously reported.
One CBS employee told the Free Press that the controversy surrounding Dokoupil has revealed a double standard at the network.
“There is a huge difference between how all ethnic or minority groups are treated and how Jews and Jewish issues are treated,” the CBS insider said. “The rule of thumb is: If you are Jewish and you are interested in reporting on Jews or Jewish issues, that’s a ‘hold on’ or a ‘no,’ whereas for any other group it would be an enthusiastic ‘yes.’”
