This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Struggle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, 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 serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall 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 press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to favor that bidder 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 installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice 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 opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator 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.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the newest corporate chess match.
