On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and generally dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Battle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
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.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to 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 White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis 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.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue persists.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
