On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a flawless news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a High-Stakes Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the latest corporate chess match.
