Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where there exists reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from 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? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the latest merger game.
