On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary 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. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm 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, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.
