Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a Corporate Battle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest merger game.
