This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is led 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest merger game.
