On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement rang true to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and mostly reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a High-Stakes Struggle
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, 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 governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to like that bidder 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, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.
