This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs 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 unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest merger game.
