Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.
