This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State Amid a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of 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 company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Continued Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
