On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a flawless news source, her words resonated to many. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Struggle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media empires battle over 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, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer 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 – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC 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.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
