Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Business Battle
But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.
Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
There is a basis to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
An Outcome of Further Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution
Whatever happens regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.
“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.
