On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent 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 Possibility of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, 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 not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
