Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest merger game.
