This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It is one of the outlets where there exists reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Business Battle
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump'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 CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent merger game.
