This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Struggle
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
A Further Factor: The Former President
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of 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 ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis persists.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the most recent merger game.
