This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is led 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of 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 cannot be tools in the most recent merger game.
