This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Battle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of Further Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
