On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
An Uncertain Position During a High-Stakes Battle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Factor: The Former President
The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.
Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.
A Possibility of Continued Turmoil
Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could position 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 wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution
Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.
“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.
Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.
When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the newest merger game.
