On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional 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” antagonist.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.
