On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Struggle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to prefer 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.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Continued Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
