Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that bidder 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
In the view of 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 block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
