This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Battle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out 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 structure could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.
