This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on 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 statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
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 competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
