Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of 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 pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
