On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her statement rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Tug-of-War
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks 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 added.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his 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 claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled 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, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
