This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Battle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem persists.
“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
