Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Corporate Battle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to like 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
