Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Corporate Struggle
Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Continued Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to 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? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.
