This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where you can find grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Battle
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes 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 appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised 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 doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
