Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated to many. It is one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Business Struggle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
According to 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 prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new 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? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the latest corporate chess match.
