Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a High-Stakes Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.
The Complicating Element: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
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 sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator 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, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.
