On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and mostly dependable reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that suitor 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 conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new 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? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the newest merger game.
