This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer 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 – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.
