This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory 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. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to favor 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.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of Further Uncertainty
It is important to note, 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 a future sale. It never ends.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm 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, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
