Friday, July 18, 2025

Media shakeups across America

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This is America

Stories of justice and action across America

Fri Jul 18 2025

One of late night television's legacy programs is coming to an end.

CBS announced it is ditching "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," with the final show scheduled for May 2026.

"It's not just the end of our show, it's the end of the 'Late Show' on CBS," Colbert said on July 17. "I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."

The network credited the decision to "financial" reasons. But the end of such a media frontrunner is a stunning move for many American who have tuned in over the years — and some are wondering if there's more to the story.

Hello there! I'm Phillip M. Bailey, Chief Political Correspondent, along with Savannah Kuchar, Congress and Campaigns Reporter, authors of This Is America, a weekly newsletter from USA TODAY about identity and belonging across the country.

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•	'It's disrespectful': Angel Reese comments on WNBA CBA negotiations

A person walks by the Ed Sullivan Theater, where "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is filmed, in New York City, U.S., July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Kylie Cooper, REUTERS

Tough week for media

Colbert slammed CBS' parent company − Paramount Global − earlier this month for making a $16 million settlement with Trump over his lawsuit connected to a "60 Minutes" interview of then-candidate Kamala Harris.

The late night host called it a "big fat bribe."

Others believe booting Colbert, who is also poking fun at the president, might have something to do with Paramount seeking the administration's pending approval of a reported $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.

It's a guess at the moment but another sign of the shifting media landscape as a whole.

This week, President Donald Trump ushered through billions in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which houses NPR and PBS. Pulling the plug on these dollars is likely to impact rural stations the most, which feed information, entertainment and education to isolated communities. USA TODAY spoke with one Kansas public television station , which called the clawback catastrophic.

What this all means for Americans? The media landscape is going through tectonic changes and the consequences will make themselves known in weeks to come.

Americans made 'good trouble' this week

Demonstrations took place in roughly 1,600 cities and towns to mark the fifth anniversary of former Rep. John Lewis' death. The iconic civil rights leader, who was the youngest person to speak at the famous 1963 March on Washington, was known for saying he got into "good trouble" by using peaceful, non-violent action to challenge injustice.

Moderator Tim Vincent, president of Brothers of the Desert, introduces speakers during a Good Trouble Lives On event at the Palm Springs Cultural Center in Palm Springs, Calif., Thursday, July 17, 2025.

Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun, Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Americans remain at odds over President Donald Trump's actions and the demonstrations followed Lewis' dictum, taking to the streets July 17 to advocate against Trump's immigration enforcement and the "one big, beautiful" bill that makes significant changes to Medicaid.

Meanwhile, the White House says the president is doing what he promised to do on the campaign trail and that a majority of voters supported him.

"We are absolutely focused on making sure that our voices throughout the country are raised," Barbara Arnwine, co-leader of the Transformative Justice Coalition, one of the groups behind the "Good Trouble" actions, told USA TODAY.

Read our nationwide recap of the demonstrations.

Or see what they looked like across the country.

Thanks for reading with us! We'll be back next week with more stories of belonging and diversity from across the country. In the meantime, find us on social @ savannahkuchar and @phillipmbailey.