Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, 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 far from a secure position. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.
