This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal 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. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump 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 top editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated 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 pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.
The Core Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent merger game.
