This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
A Further Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup 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 stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
