On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words rang true to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and generally reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
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 official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask 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.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.
