On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of 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 broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. 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 competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
