On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message resonated to many. It is one of the outlets where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a High-Stakes Struggle
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
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 competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest merger game.
