Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where one can locate fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a Business Struggle
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring 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 journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
