On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Corporate Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, 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.
A Future of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, 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 pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change 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 outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
