Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will 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 protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes 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 seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that suitor 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.
“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.
