On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a Business Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly 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 top editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different 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 a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
