This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: The Former President
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.
