Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It is one of the outlets where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says 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 support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor 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, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create 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? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
