On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Business Battle
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions 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 press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor 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 top editor of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off 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. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
