This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a perfect news source, her statement rang true to many. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor 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.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.
