On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Vulnerable Situation Amid a High-Stakes Battle
However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted 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 more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
A Further Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.
“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pieces in the newest merger game.
