This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where there exists reality-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Business Battle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming 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 professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate 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 company 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, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Problem and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.
