Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find grounded and generally dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Struggle
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, 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 news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for 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.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
An Outcome of More Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.
The Fundamental Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.
