This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement resonated to many. It remains one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor that bidder 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
