On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Battle
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer 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? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that 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.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
