Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation 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. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off 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 structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
