Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where there exists grounded and generally reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Struggle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Additional Element: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
