John,

On Monday, Jon Stewart closed The Daily Show with an impassioned explanation of what CBS’s decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s show means for the media and our democracy:

We’ll share what Stewart said in a moment, but first we’re asking for your support of COURIER Newsroom. In a time when legacy media like CBS keep folding for Trump, we promise we never will.

Please, donate $25 or more today so our anti-MAGA media can reach more Americans with fearless, factual journalism. 

Here’s Stewart’s argument:

Colbert didn’t get canceled because of ratings. He was number one in his timeslot. He was cancelled because CBS’s parent company Paramount, is pursuing an $8 billion merger. And that deal needs approval from Trump’s FCC.

So Paramount didn’t wait for pressure. They acted first. They pulled one of Trump’s most prominent critics off the air.

Stewart called it “pre-compliance”—the idea that you can protect yourself from political retaliation by backing down in advance.

And then he made a critical point: it doesn’t even work.

He pointed to the example of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News.

Fox News is Trump’s state media outlet, offering the endless positive coverage Trump craves. Yet when Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal published Trump’s creepy birthday love letter to Jeffery Epstein, Trump still sued them for a record $10 billion. 

Stewart summed it up this way: 

“You think if you make yourself small enough, authoritarianism will pass you by.
 You are wrong.”

That’s the lesson. Shrinking your voice doesn’t stop the threat. It invites more of it.

This is where COURIER comes in.

We’re not owned by billionaires. We’re not angling for mergers. We don’t pre-comply, and we will never, ever back down from our mission of factual reporting that takes on MAGA and the damage they are doing to our democracy.

We publish independent journalism in the online spaces disinformation thrives. We bring the truth directly to the people who need it most—without corporate filters, without paywalls, and without fear.

But we can only keep doing that with your support.

If you believe in media that doesn’t fold under pressure—please make a donation today.

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Thanks for standing with us,
The COURIER Team