Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a perfect news source, her message rang true to many. It remains one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to prefer 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.
“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
