On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and generally dependable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a Business Battle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges 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 negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that company 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
