This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.
Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State During a Corporate Tug-of-War
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.
No matter the result, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.
“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.
“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.
The Complicating Layer: Political Influence
The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.
Trump has reason to like that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.
A Possibility of Further Instability
Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.
According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.
The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward
Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.
“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.
Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.
Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest merger game.
