Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Tug-of-War
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Layer: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted 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.
He has grounds to prefer that bidder 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.
