This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a Corporate Tug-of-War
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, 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, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated 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 – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall 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 official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized 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 a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
