On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Struggle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: 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 main “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Turmoil
Notably, 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 hardly a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the most recent merger game.
