This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking 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 academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: The Former President
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer 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 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
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue persists.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed 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? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
