This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a Corporate Struggle
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own 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 powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions 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 revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
