Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where there exists grounded and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Battle
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media conglomerates 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 helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
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 official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-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 lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of More Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot 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 contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.
“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator 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 support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent merger game.
