On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
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 a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
