Journalists are supposed to ask tough questions, or so I thought. Now one journalist is being rebuked, by his own network, for doing just that — and it’s no accident that his supposed offense involved defending Israel.

The Sept. 30 episode involved “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil, interviewing author Ta-Nehisi Coates about his new book, “The Message.” The book is sharply critical of Israel, comparing the Jewish state to the “Jim Crow South” and describing it as the “one place on the planet — under American patronage — that resembled the world that my parents were born into.”

Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has two children who live in Israel, came out swinging. “I have to say, when I read the book, I imagine if I took your name out of it, took away the awards and the acclaim, took the cover off the book, the publishing house goes away — the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist,” Dokoupil said. “So then I found myself wondering: Why does Ta-Nehisi Coates … leave out so much? 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? Why not detail anything of the first and the second intifada, the cafe bombings, the bus bombings, the little kids blown to bits? And is it because you don’t believe that Israel, in any condition, has a right to exist?”

This was a tough question, more in-your-face than the standard morning show fare, and Dokoupil kept pressing, for most of the nearly seven-minute interview. “What is it that so particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state that is a Jewish safe place and not any of the other states out there?”

And: “Why is there no agency in this book for the Palestinians? They exist in your narrative merely as the victims of the Israelis, as though they were not offered peace at any juncture.”

The tone was civil but intense. Coates — no surprise — more than held his own. The book, he said, was not intended to be “a treatise on the entirety of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.” He isn’t offended by a “Jewish state,” Coates said, but “by the idea of states built on ethnocracy, no matter where they are.”

The segment concluded with the more familiar, comfortable banter of early-morning television. “You’re still invited to High Holidays, I’ll see you at the shul,” Dokoupil told him. “I mean it, buddy.” Coates chuckled.

Then all hell broke loose. The CBS newsroom was in an uproar. Then, on Oct. 7 of all dates, CBS News senior officials told an internal meeting that the interview fell short of “editorial standards” at the network, according to an account by the Free Press, which obtained audio of the meeting.

“We will still ask tough questions. We will still hold people accountable,” said Adrienne Roark, head of newsgathering at the network. “But we will do so objectively, which means checking our biases and opinions at the door.”

I am very sympathetic to this point. These days, I am an opinion columnist, but I spent decades in the newsroom trying to adhere to these very standards. But is it a violation of those standards, or is it a demonstration of them, to press an interview subject about the contours and implications of his argument? CBS legal reporter Jan Crawford bravely made this point at the meeting. “I thought our commitment was to truth,” she said. “And when someone comes on our air with a one-sided account of a very complex situation, as Coates himself acknowledges that he has, it’s my understanding that as journalists we are obligated to challenge that worldview so that our viewers can have that access to the truth or a fuller account, a more balanced account. And, to me, that is what Tony did.”

Anchors — especially of morning shows — aren’t robots. I might have advised Dokoupil to dial down his intensity a notch, or to leave more space for his co-hosts to pose their questions. But I did not see a red line crossed. What I saw was a prominent author challenged to defend his premises and doing so with conviction. It was good journalism.

As network executives determined that the Coates interview failed to meet “editorial standards,” was Dokoupil’s behavior subjected to a different, more stringent, test? Imagine a gay anchor’s interview with an author hostile to LGBTQ+ rights. Or a Black interviewer pressing an advocate opposed to affirmative action or efforts to increase diversity. If they allowed some personal feelings to slip in, if they failed to check their “biases and opinions at the door,” would they be greeted with a revolt among their colleagues and reprimanding by their bosses? I don’t think so.

Dokoupil was treated differently because, in the modern media culture, Israel is treated differently. That is something for CBS standards and practices, and for all of us, to ponder.