Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and largely dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a High-Stakes Battle
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary 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. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, 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 far from a secure position. That structure could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice 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 the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the newest corporate chess match.
