This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a Business Battle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new 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? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
