On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It is one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely 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 is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
