On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is led 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 placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
