On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
A Further Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix prevails, 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 far from a secure position. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the most recent merger game.
