On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words rang true to many. It is one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Business Struggle
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Element: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.
