On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is led 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 appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
