This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and largely reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a Corporate Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix wins, 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 hardly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.
