Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her statement resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember 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 official meetings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
