This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of Continued Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
