On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Corporate Struggle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot 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.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are essential for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the most recent merger game.
