On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the newest merger game.
