On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor 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.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
It is important to note, 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 guarantee of stability. That structure could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
