Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it 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 very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest merger game.
