On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where one can locate fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Business Tug-of-War
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect 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 unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit 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, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent merger game.
