This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation 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.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words resonated to many. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Business Struggle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.
