This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and generally dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: The Former President
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
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 the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor 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.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest merger game.
