C

CNN

USA · Bias: Left-center

Owner

Warner Bros. Discovery (Paramount Skydance takeover pending)

About

Ted Turner launched CNN in 1980 as the world's first 24-hour news channel — a format so novel that critics nicknamed it the "Chicken Noodle Network" and figured it would flop within months. Instead it invented the always-on news cycle everyone (including Fox) now runs on, and became must-watch TV during the 1991 Gulf War, when its reporters were the only ones broadcasting live from Baghdad. These days it's in a genuine ratings fight for its life: CNN posted its best quarter since 2022 in early 2026, but its roughly 800,000 average primetime viewers are still a fraction of Fox's audience. Its answer, "the middle ground," often just means running a US Democrat-leaning lens on stories and calling it neutral. Bigger change is coming from above: Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to sell itself to Paramount Skydance — the Ellison family's company — in a deal regulators cleared in June 2026 and expected to close later this year. Which means CNN's honest answer to "who owns you" is currently: ask again in a few months.

Landmark Story

For 12 years, CNN's chief news executive Eason Jordan sat on stories about atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime — including a plot to assassinate Jordan's own royal family — because reporting them honestly would have gotten CNN's Baghdad bureau shut down and put its sources at risk. The motive, he argued, was protecting human lives and preserving the network's rare access inside Iraq. In April 2003, right after the U.S. invasion made it safe to talk, Jordan finally admitted it all in a stunning New York Times op-ed titled "The News We Kept to Ourselves." The confession blew up into a genuine scandal: critics accused CNN of trading its journalistic soul for a Baghdad dateline, and the episode remains one of the starkest admissions in modern journalism that "access" and "truth" don't always point the same direction.

Deep Dive

Who Owns CNN in 2026 — and Is the Owner Really a Republican? The Answer Is Changing This Year →

Recent Analyses

#729How CNN, Bloomberg, Fox and Al Jazeera Covered the US-Canada Trade Talks Collapse — and Who Gave the Tariffs an Owner#722On Tuesday There Was a Deal. By Midnight a Trade War 'Reignited' All by Itself.#716The Debt Hit $40 Trillion and One Newsroom Couldn't Find a Single Fingerprint on It#699Same Threat, Two CNNs: One Desk Saw a Poker Hand, the Other Saw a Country#682The War Aims Changed on Live TV. Only One Headline Knew Who Changed Them.#676CNN Showed Up Late to the Lincoln — Then Out-Reported Everyone#660800,000 Voters Showed Up. CNN Filed a Threat Assessment for Party HQ.#650Yesterday This Story Didn't Exist in America. Then a Senator Signed It.#647In Wisconsin, a 'Socialist' Lost to a Man With No Adjective#631How Fox, CNN, NBC, BBC and The Guardian Each Told You About Trump's Secret Plane Swap in Turkey#624The Prescription Is for Shots That Don't Exist. CNN Skipped That Part.#620All of Football Accused One Man. CNN's Headline Couldn't See Him.#605The Confirmed Thing Got the Headline. The Denial Got the Comma.#593CNN Assigned the Alliance a Religion. The Members Immediately Objected.#581The Rule Said Families May Pay. The Headline Heard 'Controversy.'#571471 Planes Are Cracking. Nobody Built Them.#562How Fox, BBC, Al Jazeera and the Mirror Covered Trump's 'Treasonous Leakers' Post — and the US Missile Shortage Reports Behind It#558One Near Miss, Three Culprits#536The War Doubled Their Profits. CNN Asked How Trump Feels About It.#528Same War, Same Outlet: The Toddlers Got a Verb. The Beachgoers Got 'Russia Says.'#512Missiles Hit Two Oil Complexes. CNN's Subheading Said 'Win-Win.'#493The $1.8 Billion Is in Paragraph Five. The Headline Went With 'Muddies.'#470How Fox, CNN, Al Jazeera and RT Each Told You Iran Fired Missiles at a US Base#467CNN Built a Wildfire Tracker. It Points at Europe.#462The Plane Seats Were Bolted In Wrong. By Absolutely No One.#427How Fox, CNN, NPR, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera Each Told You About Trump's 'Massive Attack' Threat on Iran#418A Man Died in Madison. In CNN's Headline, the Shooting Did It.#406Trump Posted a Rate Card for Airstrikes. CNN Filed It Under 'Vows.'#386A Judge Paused the Sale of CNN. CNN Covered the Buyer's Stopwatch.#365How CNN, Fox, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera Each Told You Two US Soldiers Were Killed in Jordan#344The Teleprompter Guy Bet on Trump's Words. CNN Bet You Wouldn't Reach Paragraph 15.#338500 Feared Dead. The Reason They Sailed Was Behind a Hyperlink.#333Over 100 Children Are Dead. Fox's Headline Verb Was 'Discusses.'#317Trump Announced an Announcement. Only One Headline Brought the Receipts.#306The Slashes Grew From 250 Feet to 300 Yards. The Headline Just Took Dictation.#304A “Merger,” a “Buying,” and a “Takeover” Walk Into a Courtroom#294CNN Just Covered Its Own For Sale Sign#283140 Targets in One Night, and Two Headlines Where Nobody Started It#270The Lawsuit Says Apple v. OpenAI. The Defendants Have Mortgages.#264Six People Shot at a Toronto Salsa Festival. Both Headlines Lost the Shooters.#122The Money Made Every Headline. The Reason Made One.#053Trump Lost His Name Fight Again. In Fox's Headline, He Wasn't Even in the Room.#023CNN Framed the NATO Summit as Trump 'Piling Pressure on the Alliance.' NPR Framed the Same Two Days as a Bill Finally Coming Due.#024CNN Spent Months Checking Waymo's '13 Times Safer' Claim. It Found the Near-Misses That Number Was Never Built to Count.#009"Trump Bought Taser-Maker's Stock Just Before ICE Handed It a $220 Million Contract"#006"Devastating: Supreme Court Guts Protections as Conservative Majority Reshapes America"