Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue remains.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent merger game.
