Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different 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? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the newest merger game.
