This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a Business Battle
However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.
