Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and generally dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Tug-of-War
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
The Additional Factor: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like 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.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, 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 far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
