The Corporate Battle For CNN Highlights The Extent to Which Flawed US Media Has Become.
On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting 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 it is by no means a flawless news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate reality-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.
A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War
But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.
Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.
“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.
The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.
“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.
A Further Element: The Former President
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” adversary.
Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.
Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.
Trump has reason to favor that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.
A Future of Continued Turmoil
It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.
In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.
“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.
The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead
No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem remains.
“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.
Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.
Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.
In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.