This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and generally reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Battle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor that bidder 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, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.
