On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her message resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the latest merger game.
