Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Situation During a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots 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 broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: The Former President
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants 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 says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that company 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.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from 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 head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the newest corporate chess match.
