On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate reality-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
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 a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the newest merger game.
