This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a Business Tug-of-War
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pieces in the latest merger game.
