Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and generally dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a Business Struggle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
A Further Element: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the newest merger game.
