This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message rang true to many. It is one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory 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. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor 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 lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.
