“I am so sorry and saddened and properly outraged for the cancellation of late-night here. Not only for yourself and for this entire family who are here, but for what it means … for free speech,” said actress Sandra Oh on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” following CBS’s cancellation of the long-running program.

The network’s decision comes at a time when the fate of cable television is uncertain due to decreased ad revenue and increased competition with online streaming platforms. Therefore, it’s plausible that the cancellation truly was “purely a financial decision,” as CBS claimed.

However, there may be other underlying factors for the cancellation. Namely, the network could have been attempting to get on President Donald Trump’s good side since its parent company, Paramount, was seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an $8 billion merger deal with Skydance Media.

Colbert’s continued open criticism of the president might have hindered the merger’s approval; this is on top of Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount for the network’s allegedly misleading “60 Minutes” coverage of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount ultimately agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump this July, which Colbert called “a big, fat bribe.”

The timing of Paramount’s choices raised concerns among many, with both the Writers Guild of America and multiple senators calling for an investigation into the network’s potential bribery, as well as FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez telling PBS News that this is yet another example of the Trump administration’s “censorship and control” efforts.

As Gomez suggests, Paramount’s actions occurred against the backdrop of already widespread media censorship by the Trump Administration.

Consequently, whether or not Paramount’s choices were really about the downfall of late-night television, their effect remains the same. By removing Colbert’s platform to share his political critiques with his audience, the network is effectively endorsing a hostile media climate wherein critics of the Trump administration are silenced.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Trump has attacked freedom of press in “unprecedented” ways, such as banning The Associated Press from the White House, cutting over $1 billion from public broadcasting funds that support NPR and PBS, and suing The Wall Street Journal and ABC News.

These impositions have impeded organizations’ ability to deliver information to the public, creating an increasingly skewed information landscape wherein the coverage Trump favors gets amplified while the coverage that critiques him gets suppressed.

This reality is bleak, but there is still hope because resistance is far from weak. For example, Colbert could have taken the cancellation as a warning to stop denouncing Trump on air, yet he has continued to share his thoughts on the president.

Fellow late-night hosts including Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Jon Stewart have also rallied in support of Colbert by joining the show’s live audience following the cancellation announcement and sharing their individual responses online, championing Colbert and condemning Paramount.

Instead of backing down, these hosts worked together to call out injustice. They leaned on each other and remained vocal, possibly even more vocal than they had been before. An important lesson can be learned from this: We can only be silenced as much as we’re willing to be silenced and by uniting, we make our voices more powerful.

On the community level, refusing to be silent entails joining forces to maintain freedom of press and freedom of speech, both on the USC campus and in the surrounding Los Angeles area. As a student body, we must express to our administration that uplifting independent student journalism matters to us so that supporting it remains a university priority, especially at a time when accessing information from other reputable sources is more difficult.

As for speaking up, participating in demonstrations for issues you care about, like immigrant rights, affordable healthcare, the environment or whatever else it may be, is always an option. If you prefer not to protest, there are many other steps you can take to be an engaged citizen, like volunteering with community-based organizations, contacting your local representatives, and even just sharing information and discussing your thoughts with those around you.

So, as easy as it is to feel pessimistic these days, maintain your spark. Organize. Be loud about what you stand for. If you have the financial means, donate to your local news organizations. Join together with your community and fight for the future you believe in, because if you do that, everything might just end up alright.