On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and generally reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a Corporate Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press 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 one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that company 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, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
