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Comment by pm90 | Hacker News Reader

Extremely disturbing to see the US Press go the same way as the Indian Press did under Modi.

I'd worry more about defunding public broadcasting or the Washington Post editorial stance. There's a good faith argument here that the cause was market conditions:

> The genre has been struggling as the majority of the country migrates in droves to streaming entertainment and away from traditional broadcast and cable television...

> The number of late-night shows has dwindled in recent years...

> The genre has also experienced a sharp decline in advertising revenue in recent years...

do you feel it's a good faith argument for management to make at the same time as they're trying to get personal approval from Trump to sell the company[0], and shortly after they just paid him a massive personal bribe[1], and one day after the person who is having their show cancelled, said this on said show [2]?

I really did not expect that the credulity of Americans would be one of their downfalls.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_merger_of_Skydance_Me...

1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...

2: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jul/15/late-night-r...

Do "good faith arguments" really matter when the president is not exactly doing his best to show good faith? In this, and MANY other cases ... It's not like this administration is going to be convinced by a good faith argument, ever.

Which leaves just outright pressure.

At some level, it is worse. The Indian press never sold us citizens koolaid about freedom, talking truth to power, and patted themselves on the back about winning Pulitzer Prizes for journalism.

The Indian press knows it is a bottom feeder and doesn’t try not to be which gives space for critical thought to emerge (even if it masked as extreme cynicism - “everyone is corrupt”) which results in extreme skepticism of everyone.

America is over as we have known if for the last 95 years

All good things must come to an end and when one door closes, another opens.

Perhaps Colbert will sign with another network and bring bigger and better ideas to the small screen.

This is like telling someone to switch from Comcast to another ISP. The choices are limited. Oh and in this case, they're all owned by like two media conglomerates.

The Late Show has an elderly and shrinking audience. And, Colbert hasn't been funny in years, nor has he been challenging the powers that be.

When he did the White House Correspondents' Dinner and roasted George W Bush, that was extremely edgy. The Colbert Report was also wickedly funny.

But the Late Show makes John Oliver look like Lenny Bruce.

The Late Show was the only show to have positive viewership rates from Q1 to Q2 while maintaining the largest share of viewers.

It's hardly a shrinking audience.

The Late Show is basically tied with Jimmy Kimmel among 18 to 49 year olds, and everyone else is significantly worse.

https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/late-night-tv-ratings-q...

IMO, Colbert is consistently funny. His style has always appealed to me.

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