Late night television has long been a place where comedy intersects with politics. Hosts poke fun at presidents and public figures, and audiences often treat the satire as both entertainment and critique, Maely Levie observes in the student newspaper at Verrado High School in Buckeye, Arizona.
(Toni Brient/Flickr Creative Commons)That’s why CBS’s announcement that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be cancelled by May 2026 raised more than eyebrows. Officially, executives cited financial reasons. But student journalists and media observers have pointed out that Colbert’s sharp critiques of President Trump may have made the show a target. With Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media, whose CEO David Ellison is a close Trump ally, the timing has fueled speculation that the decision was less about dollars and more about politics.
If those suspicions are true, the implications are chilling. American democracy has always relied on a free press to question authority, challenge leaders, and shed light on backroom deals. History provides examples. Edward R Murrow stood up to Senator McCarthy in 1954. The New York Times and Washington Post took President Nixon to court during Watergate. And so on and so on. These remind us how fragile press freedoms can be when those in power feel threatened.
The risk today is that America slides back into an era where powerful figures can silence critics with financial pressure and political influence, leaving citizens with fewer trustworthy sources of information.
That threat extends beyond network studios. In classrooms and student newsrooms across the country, young reporters face censorship, administrative pressure, and legal uncertainty. Unlike their professional counterparts, student journalists are not fully protected under federal law. That’s where the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) comes in. For decades, the SPLC has defended student journalists and advisers who stand up to censorship.
Their New Voices campaign has already helped pass laws in 18 states that give student reporters the right to publish responsibly without undue interference.
The fight for student press freedom recently received a boost. The John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, known for its long-standing support of free expression, awarded the SPLC a $500,000 grant this month, reports Mackenzie Blanco in the student newspaper at North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. Those funds will help expand legal hotlines, train students and advisers, and strengthen advocacy campaigns.
They also signal that established institutions recognize how vital it is to invest in the next generation of journalists.
For student writers, the lesson is clear: press freedom isn’t guaranteed and must be protected and exercised. Teachers and advisers can help guide students through the legal and ethical boundaries of reporting, but organizations like the SPLC ensure that when students do their jobs well, their voices cannot simply be silenced. In a democracy, transparency depends not only on iconic figures like Murrow or Colbert, but also on thousands of young reporters who keep asking hard questions in their schools and communities.
The cancellation of a major late-night show and the funding of a student press advocacy group may seem unrelated. Yet both stories underscore the same point: a free press is essential to accountability, whether it is holding presidents to task on national television or making sure student journalists can report the truth in their own schools. Without support from audiences, organizations, and everyday citizens, press freedom erodes. With it, democracy grows stronger.
