Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a perfect news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different 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? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest merger game.
