On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case 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 Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Layer: Political Influence
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Recall 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 White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.
