On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Business Struggle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
