On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a Corporate Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Element: Political Influence
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the newest merger game.
