REPORT: CBS News tells reporters: “Jerusalem is not in Israel”

REPORT: CBS News tells reporters: “Jerusalem is not in Israel”

Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz

According to a recent report, Mark Memmott, CBS News’s senior director of standards and practices, emailed all of its employees in August, instructing them to “be careful with some terms when we talk or write about the news” from Israel and Gaza. 

According to the report in The Free Press,  the employees were instructed that when referring to Jerusalem, “Do not refer to it as being in Israel.” 

It should be emphasized that this instruction was issued to thousands of journalists and reporters. 

“Yes, the U.S. embassy is there and the Trump administration recognized it as being Israel’s capital. But its status is disputed. 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.”

The story comes as part of ongoing revelations made by The Free Press on “a double standard exists for journalism at CBS when it relates to Israel and Jews.”

Jerusalem was unified in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in its entirety by the Israeli government under the Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel passed by the Knesset on 30 July 1980.The US government has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital under the Jerusalem Embassy Act passed by Congress in 1995.

A previous report revealed a meeting of CBS Mornings’ editorial team Tuesday that included a debateabout whether it is “fair to talk about whether Israel should exist at all.” During the debate, Tony Dokoupil was admonished for his tough questioning of Ta-Nehisi Coates about the inaccuracies and anti-Israel views expressed in his new book, The Message. Coates was provided the questions before the interview by co-host Gayle King. 

“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.

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.’”

Dokoupil is Jewish and his ex-wife and two children live in Israel.