Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – particularly during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led 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 installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block 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
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest merger game.
