On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a High-Stakes Battle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
