On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, 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, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle 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 should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
