This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts 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 the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner 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.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated 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 stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.
