This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem persists.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist 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 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 doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
