On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Battle
Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the latest merger game.
