On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.
