This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement resonated to many. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy 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 larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts 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 White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that suitor 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.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.
