This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her words resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, 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 policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation 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 protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
