Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary 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. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated 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 set up CNN for a future 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 recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a highly 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 profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the latest acquisition battle.
