Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her words resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts 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 come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump 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 venerable news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the most recent merger game.
