On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a High-Stakes Battle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media conglomerates compete for 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, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to like that company 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, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.
“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the most recent merger game.
