Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Even though it is by no means a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War
But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.
The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Element: The Former President
The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts 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 appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.