On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Additional Layer: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, 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 far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest merger game.
