On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement resonated to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media conglomerates compete 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 corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. 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. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
