This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists grounded and generally dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Struggle
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: The Former President
This situation is complicated 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 his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to like that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest merger game.
