This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a High-Stakes Struggle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media conglomerates battle over 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, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-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 venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
