On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and mostly dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the latest merger game.
