This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a flawless news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Business Tug-of-War
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to like that bidder 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.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another 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 stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
