On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: 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” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to favor 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, parent 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 More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the newest merger game.
