This Tug-of-War For CNN Shows How Broken US Media Now Is.
Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.
While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Business Struggle
However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.
“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.
“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.
A Further Element: Donald Trump
The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.
Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
There is a basis to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.
The company, parent 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.
An Outcome of Further Uncertainty
Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.
If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.
“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.
The Core Issue and a Potential Solution
No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.
“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.
Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.
In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent merger game.
