On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where you can find grounded and largely dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Battle
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to like that suitor 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 conservative Bari Weiss, famous 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 spun off into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
