On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Struggle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts 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 appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-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 More Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal 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 with this particular battle, the bigger problem persists.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.
