This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Corporate Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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.
The company, 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 historic news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Significantly, 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 far from a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
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 prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.
“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
