Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
