Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position Amid a Business Struggle
But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said 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 – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of 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 ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.
Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce 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 healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
