Former NPR CEO: 'This has not been a great week for free speech'

Source: The Hill

07/19/25 10:35 PM ET


Former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller criticized CBS’s canceling of Stephen Colbert’s show in a Saturday interview amidst pushback of a decision that the network said was made due to financial constraints. “This has not been a great week for free speech and speaking truth to power, without a doubt,” Schiller said on MSNBC.

CBS has garnered criticism for the move, which many took in the context of its decision earlier this month to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump for $16 million. CBS’s parent company, Paramount, is currently seeking federal approval for a merger deal with entertainment conglomerate Skydance.

Colbert panned CBS’s move afterwards, calling the settlement a “big fat bribe” in his monologue and pointing out Paramount’s merger effort. Paramount’s lawyers had previously characterized the lawsuit, which took issue with CBS’s editing of an interview with former Vice President Harris, as “without basis in law or fact.”

Schiller acknowledged Saturday that the evidence around the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was “circumstantial,” but still called the move “curious.” The network has maintained that the decision was motivated by financial concerns. “We have to also make note that Stephen Colbert is unafraid to, again, speak truth to power,” the former NPR executive said. “He does it in a very bipartisan way over the years, and comedy and parody is an important part of a democratic ecosystem.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/5410340-former-npr-ceo-this-has-not-been-a-great-week-for-free-speech/