On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
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 says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the most recent merger game.
