This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to like 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
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 welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.