This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest corporate chess match.
