Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
