This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “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 press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-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.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the newest merger game.
