On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Battle
Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case 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? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Layer: The Former President
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.
Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.
A Future of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Core Problem and a Path Forward
Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.
“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.
