On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It is one of the organizations where you can find grounded and generally dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a High-Stakes Battle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted 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 – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest merger game.