Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Battle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of 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 profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to prefer that suitor 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
