This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming 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 media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to favor 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, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.
“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pieces in the most recent merger game.
