On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during crises like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Battle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.
