On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Business Struggle
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: The Former President
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts 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 appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Future of More Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
