On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Battle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to prefer that company 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.
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 storied news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean 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 not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
