This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War
Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.
“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Element: Political Influence
The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary 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. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.
Trump has reason to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is run 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Future of More Instability
Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address 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 is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.
