This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Battle
Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It is often framed as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: 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.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation 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 insulate 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 like that bidder 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 appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
An Outcome of More Turmoil
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.
“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest merger game.
