On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, 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 benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” 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? – overlooks a more important 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 added.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
