On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, 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.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate 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.
There is a basis to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent merger game.
