Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
