On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find grounded and largely reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a High-Stakes Battle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author 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.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension 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 journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
It is important to note, 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 hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
