Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a Corporate Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Additional Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that bidder 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
