This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a Corporate Tug-of-War
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue persists.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
