On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Battle
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins 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 debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that suitor 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
