On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to prefer that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement 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 prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
