On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words resonated to many. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and generally reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Business Battle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Political Influence
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that bidder 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, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest merger game.
