On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.
