Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Corporate Battle
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue persists.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen 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.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest corporate chess match.
