This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Battle
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very 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 must not be tools in the latest merger game.
