Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a Business Battle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.
