Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message resonated to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” 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 frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the newest merger game.
