Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says 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 appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new 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 doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent merger game.
