This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true to many. It is one of the outlets where there exists grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a High-Stakes Struggle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Political Influence
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the newest merger game.
