Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a High-Stakes Battle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor that bidder 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 appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures 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 essential for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
