This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and largely dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Tug-of-War
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
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 appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
