On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words resonated to many. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a Corporate Struggle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture 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 business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the most recent merger game.
