This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State During a Corporate Struggle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader 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.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly 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 lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, 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 far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few 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 cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
