This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her message rang true to many. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and mostly dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Business Tug-of-War
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that company 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
