Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Battle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said 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 – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate 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 hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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 installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, 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 safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest merger game.
