Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a Corporate Struggle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims 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 unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
