On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid 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 parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal 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. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the latest merger game.
