On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is run 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 installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, 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 contested by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
