On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and largely reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a Business Battle
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor 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 conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
