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The Media Lamentations and Press Bereavement Over the Demise of Stephen Colbert Thankfully Concludes

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  May 22, 2026
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

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Reporting On The Mirror – CBS / THE LATE SHOW

  • The wailing in the press has been rather deafening.

Good news, folks, the weeks (months)...(past year) of the press moaning and mewling over Stephen Colbert have mercifully come to an end, as he had his final broadcast on Thursday. Sources like Brian Stelter have been uniquely obsessed with this development, and the analysts have been notably lax in their analysis. 

The claims that Colbert was pushed out by the president continued, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary, but why let facts interfere with a narrative?!
One detail they will never address I covered at RedState: If he is so darned popular, why is he not taking his show — or starting another — elsewhere, such as at a cable network, or on a streaming platform, like Netflix?


Legalized Press-titution -- CNN

  • Brian, you need to take the weekend off, and just mourn.

While the press collectively has been all-in with the Colbert hysteria, we safely guess the most effusive over his departure this week has been Brian Stelter. He has appeared on numerous shows on his network, and his Xitter timeline has been filled with daily posts about a comedian no longer appearing on a network. It has been, frankly, just a touch worrisome; we have to be honest.

Amid the absolute flood of emotion from the media analyst, it remains tough — nay, impossible — to pick out a worst example, but one in particular crafted a smile on our faces. In one appearance, with Wolf Blitzer, the mourning guru managed to blurt out that he saw "The Late Show" ending as (we swear, he said this), "a bleak moment."

Brian. Brian, please, just TRY to look at things as a normal person, and not an emotional wreck. We here at RFTH are those who would rather light a candle on your behalf rather than curse your darkness. 

So to help, let us recall the visit that took place earlier, where five of the talk show hosts gathered together to send Colbert off. Those are five men who deliver nearly identical monologues, trashing President Trump and Republicans. Then there was another visit to Stephen's desk this week: Jon Stewart. His "The Daily Show" offers identical content, and then there is another program on at 11:30 pm on Saturdays that delivers more of the same.

That is half a dozen shows, covering practically every day of the week —DELIVERING THE SAME DAMNED CONTENT. So things of this nature are certainly not "bleak". You are going to be more than fine.


Low Octane Gas Lighting – ROLLING STONE

  • You guys are still a music magazine, right???

To go along with Colbert’s swan song, Rolling Stone highlighted a segment from Stephen’s final show. At one point, he mentioned that they were going to play a song from the animated classic “Peanuts”, which was said to run afoul of licensing rights and thus cost the network money. He then threw it to his house band, which promptly played a rendition of a song from the program.

This would become one of those moments when journalists tend to bristle at our efforts, as we decided to engage in something they frequently abhor – doing research.

Networks pay subscription fees to music rights outfits, and this would entail having a group playing music on a show. We decided to look into whether this particular song was, in fact, covered by such a licensing deal, and would you look at that: “Linus and Lucy” is covered by the licensing agreement with BMI.

Something that a magazine covering that industry should have been aware of and able to ascertain in relatively short order.


Legalized Press-titution – TIME MAGAZINE

  • C’mon now, you guys are still trying to live down having Hitler on your cover!

The list of media outlets lending support behind the problematic Graham Platner continues to expand, and we cannot stop enjoying this. What is amazing is that while a new story emerged about Graham Platner and his self-pleasuring tendencies involving portable johns (the less known the better), Time Magazine decided to have Der Oysterfuhrer featured on its cover at the same time.

We continue to revel in the amount of media sources that are now tied to the deeply flawed candidate.


Gilded Reframe – NEW YORK TIMES

  • All this ardent defending of the journalism, yet no official reporting from this paper.

It is amazing how many statements the New York Times has been compelled to issue in defense of that screwy op-ed by Nicolas Kristof on Israel sexually abusing Palestinians and using rape dogs on those in captivity. The paper has now issued a special where it and Kristof answered challenging questions about the piece. It is little more than a deflective avoidance of the core problems, and does nothing to dispel the issue of flawed journalism.

Of particular note is that this latest “explainer” also appears in the op-ed section; the paper has yet to publish an official news item on any of Kristof’s contentions.


Blue-Anon – THE DAILY MAIL

  • The latest from our Chicken Little press, when a Republican is in office.

As we are poised to enter the new hurricane season, there are conflicting prognostications. It is said this year is going to see a more intense version of El Niño, which traditionally has led to a diminished amount of storms and their size. Or, others are saying this will be a year with higher totals and tempests of greater intensity. The Daily Mail arrives, clearly taking sides in the latter category.

Not only is the outlet predicting doom, it also states that possibly we could be hit by one massive storm, and that one will devastate the entire country.

(Let’s hold on to this report for future analysis, shall we?)


Reporting On The Mirror – CBS RADIO

  • The end of a literal era.

Amid all of the Colbert wailing and the rendering of garments, there is another significant dissolution in the media that strikes of greater significance than a comic losing his soapbox.

Today marks the final day of broadcasting for CBS Radio, as the entirety of that longstanding network is shuttering. The announcement was made a few months back, when layoffs took place, and Bari Weiss had announced that the radio network had been a revenue loser for CBS for some time.


Low Octane Gas Lighting – REUTERS

  • Could you at least have come up with a third-person overheard account to make this official?!

The news came out this morning that Tulsi Gabbard was going to step down from her position at the end of next month. She wants to spend time with her husband, who is contending with a rare form of blood cancer. This was initially reported by official White House releases, and later confirmed by Gabbard herself.

But wait! Reuters has come out with a conflicting, BREAKING report, one that is contradictory to this storyline, as it insists that Gabbard has been forced out of her role!
This is based on…ummm, based on the unimpeachable…the words of…” a person familiar with the matter.” 

Soooo…yeah, there ya go…