Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message resonated to many. It remains one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that suitor 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for 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 well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
