This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate 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 gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries 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 official meetings.
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 part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump 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.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Notably, 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 far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the newest merger game.
