On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement resonated to many. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and generally reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a Business Battle
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the latest merger game.
