This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement rang true to many. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important 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 said.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent 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 More Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid 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.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent merger game.
