Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a Business Battle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems 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 led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
