This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where you can find grounded and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk 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,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges 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 journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the latest merger game.
