This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that bidder 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
