This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the outlets where there exists grounded and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Battle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” 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” antagonist.
Remember the shouts 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 White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
