This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could 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 a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
