On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Business Struggle
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
