Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.
The Additional Layer: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.
Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to like that suitor 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 installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of More Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.
Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest acquisition battle.
