A serious news organization would take a look at slumping ratings, public disfavor, and the perpetual ire of the president, and decide to do some serious introspection on what it could be doing better.
Heck, any serious group would engage with that self-reflection, given how important accountability is.
Alas, CNN is not a serious news organization.
The beleaguered news outlet is making a public fuss about the pending mega sale of Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN’s parent company) to Paramount Skydance for a cool $110 billion, following Netflix’s withdrawal from the bidding.
Many within CNN are concerned about what this could mean for the progressive news network, whose only conservative of any note appears to be Scott Jennings.
They’re so worried, that CNN actually pushed a whole article out whining about how it didn’t want to go the way of CBS News, which has slanted more moderate under new head honcho Bari Weiss.
The outlet’s resident media watch guy, Brian Stelter, wrote: “Viewers and readers of CNN might be wondering the same thing that CNN employees are asking right now: What will Paramount’s ownership mean?
“Answers are in short supply.”
Stelter continued: “But CNN employees and viewers have serious concerns about whether Paramount CEO David Ellison will uphold the news network’s editorial independence amid severe political turbulence.”
Ellison is a close associate of President Donald Trump (Ellison’s father, Larry, is “a close ally” to the president, as CNN puts it), and the prevailing outcry in Hollywood is that Trump helped influence this deal, as reported on by Politico.
“Unequivocally, yes, it will set a bad precedent for Hollywood,” Assemblymember Nick Schultz, a California Democrat, told the outlet. “I don’t have a bone to pick with Paramount per se — my concern remains the influence of the Trump administration.”
And the whining and finger-pointing at Trump kept on coming — including from Stelter and CNN.
“President Donald Trump, after all, has long sought to weaken CNN, and he viewed the recent bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery as another way to exert control,” Stelter wrote. “‘It’s imperative that CNN be sold,’ Trump said last December, signaling he favored Paramount’s takeover proposal.”
All this public tantrum does is help reinforce a less-than-flattering report from the New York Post from earlier in the day.
The outlet’s Charles Gasparino reports that CNN staffers are “freaking out” about the potential fallout from this mega deal. In fact, things were so chaotic behind the scenes, the New York Post reports that CNN president Mark Thompson had to send a memo out to calm some frayed nerves.
“Despite all the speculation you’ve read during this process, I’d suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Thompson wrote. “And secondly let’s not forget our duty to our audience.
“We’re still near the start of what is already an incredibly newsy year at home and abroad, one that will culminate with critical U.S. midterm elections and who knows what else.”
Here’s a thought CNN might try before sounding the alarm about political influence: look in the mirror. Ratings didn’t crater because of a hostile takeover fantasy; they slid because viewers lost trust. It’s not sinister for corporate brass to reassess an underperforming asset — and whatever changes that may entail.
No, it would be simplistic to argue that if CNN had squeezed out a few more demo points, Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn’t have entertained a blockbuster sale. But a network that was thriving — culturally influential, broadly trusted, financially strong — would be viewed as a crown jewel worth protecting at all costs.
Instead, CNN too often looks like an expensive headache, weighed down by self-inflicted credibility wounds and a brand identity crisis of its own making.
If the newsroom spent half as much energy rebuilding public trust as it does speculating about political meddling, it might rediscover what made it formidable in the first place.
Accountability isn’t a threat to journalism; it’s the foundation of it. Until CNN grapples honestly with why so many Americans tuned out, every corporate tremor will feel like an existential quake — and every shake-up will look less like sabotage and more like overdue course correction.
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