Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Battle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal 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 shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is run 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, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest merger game.
