This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her message rang true to many. It is one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: Political Influence
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
He has grounds to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.
A Future of Continued Instability
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead
Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.
“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.
