On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Business Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive 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 business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition 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 Problem and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.
