Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate reality-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led 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 installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest merger game.
