🔗 Share this article

This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Battle

But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Factor: Political Influence

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to favor 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Continued Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Core Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.

“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.