Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words resonated to many. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory 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 negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest merger game.
