This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the most recent merger game.
