This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Layer: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem persists.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
