This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to prefer that bidder 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest merger game.
