Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
