This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Battle
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.
“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.
A Further Layer: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims 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 appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.
A Possibility of More Instability
It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.
