Last night, Stephen Colbert responded to CBS’s shocking announcement that The Late Show will end next May. In his monologue, he cursed President Trump, called himself a “martyr,” and asked rhetorically, “How could it be purely a financial decision if The Late Show is No. 1 in ratings?”
Many are asking the same thing.
“They’re trying to silence people”
CBS stated that it was retiring The Late Show franchise for financial reasons “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount,” the network’s parent company. Advertising revenue for the show has dropped 40 percent since 2018. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show could earn $100 million a year, but The Late Show has been losing $40 million a year.
However, the decision came just days after Colbert accused the network owner of bribing President Trump to approve a merger. Since Colbert has been such an outspoken critic of the president, the announcement sparked speculation that the network might have pulled the plug for political reasons.
- Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders responded, “Stephen Colbert, an extraordinary talent and the most popular late-night host, slams the deal. Days later, he’s fired. Do I think this is a coincidence? NO.”
- Actress Jamie Lee Curtis said, “They’re trying to silence people, but that won’t work. It won’t work. We will just get louder.”
- Vox theorized that Colbert’s political slant had become “too dangerous for late-night.”
For his part, President Trump responded on Truth Social, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”
However, ESPN and MSNBC veteran Keith Olbermann, himself a vociferous Trump critic, noted that if the network was pulling Colbert’s show for political reasons, they would not be keeping him on air until May.
Another theory is that the cancellation is just one symptom of a broader decline in late-night TV. Several shows like Colbert’s have been pared down or canceled in recent years. However, Fox News’s Gutfeld! averages three million viewers, 50 percent more than Colbert’s 1.9 million total viewers. While other late-night talk shows are struggling, Gutfeld!’s audience grew 32 percent in the last year.
“Amusing ourselves to death”
I would think that many evangelicals, especially those who are strong supporters of President Trump, have read to this point with a visceral sense of satisfaction. “Liberals” are losing cultural influence and platforms while “conservatives” are gaining both, or so it would seem.
I’m not so sure.
Studies show that younger viewers are turning to streaming, video, and social media, while older viewers are staying with broadcast television. Younger viewers lean left while older viewers (Fox News’ largest audience) lean right. So the story could be more about demographics than cultural transformation.
Therein lies the larger point I want us to consider today.
In his 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, author and educator Neil Postman warned that the television age has turned us from active citizens engaging complex social issues into passive consumers of entertaining sound bites. Digital technology exacerbates this trajectory even more today, since we can watch whatever we want for however long we want to watch it.
Since there is far too much content available for anyone to consume, we filter it by our preconceived biases. If we align ourselves with the “right” and hear that our audience is growing, we must be winning. And in a zero-sum partisan conflict, if we are winning, the other side is losing.
The media business is a business
Why is this a problem?
The media business is a business. Wherever those who make a living in this business come down on the political spectrum, they exist to sell advertising or otherwise make a profit. The more effectively they identify the audience they seek to reach and then appeal to that audience, the more profitable they become.
A platform or personality may align with our values, which is always encouraging. But we need to be aware that they are selling even so. They are entertaining and/or informing us as a means to the end of increasing their audience and revenues.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this, of course. In our day, media is a product like any other, intended for its audience’s consumption and its producers’ profit.
This scenario becomes problematic, however, when Christians confuse “winning” the culture wars with winning souls.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner drowns at age 54
There was a day when media, including late-night television, was politically neutral. I watched Johnny Carson interview political figures for decades with no real idea whether he was liberal or conservative in his personal politics. But today, when our partisan views are gaining in media advocates and audience, Christians can feel that the Christian “side” is winning.
I believe this to be a deception of the enemy.
He cannot have our souls, so he seeks to steal our witness. The last thing he wants is for us to share the gospel persuasively and passionately with our friends, neighbors, and colleagues. So he encourages us to substitute culture wars for the hard but joyful work of personal evangelism.
Our calling is to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). This faith alone, not any political party or partisan position, leads to salvation in Christ. For followers of Jesus, nothing should be more urgent than helping others know our Lord.
In fact, we have not a moment to lose.
We learned yesterday that Malcolm-Jamal Warner, best known for playing Theo on The Cosby Show, drowned while swimming on a family vacation in Costa Rica at the age of fifty-four. A military jet crashed into a college in Bangladesh yesterday as well; at least nineteen people were reportedly killed and over a hundred others were injured.
Every soul on our planet is one day closer to eternity than ever before. Including every person you will meet today.
To this end, I need to ask you a personal question: When last did you pray for the salvation of a lost person you know? When last did you share the gospel with them?
Why not today?
Quote for the day:
“God forbid that I should travel with anybody a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them.” —George Whitefield
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