On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and largely dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control 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 protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring 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 part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest merger game.
