Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Corporate Struggle
However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that bidder 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
