Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.
Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement rang true to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Corporate Battle
But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.
“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.
A Further Layer: The Former President
This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.
Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Future of More Instability
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu argued.
The Core Issue and a Path Forward
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.
“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.
