On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true to many. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Business Struggle
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
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 gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
