Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting 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 perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a Business Battle
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that suitor 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
