This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a flawless news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Business Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media conglomerates vie for 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, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, 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 hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new 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? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.
