On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It is one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and mostly reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Business Struggle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario 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 cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to favor that suitor 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.
