On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a High-Stakes Struggle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Policies that strengthen 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 robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the latest merger game.
