On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal 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.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
