Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Battle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will 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 central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. 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 yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest merger game.
