This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, 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 helps the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly 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 editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.
