This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her message rang true to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder 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, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the newest merger game.
