Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Battle
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a major game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants 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 one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest merger game.
