This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, 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 safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
