Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Struggle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming 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 media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate 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 influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House 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 one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, 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 hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent merger game.
