🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and generally reliable reporting – particularly during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Additional Factor: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

He has grounds to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

An Outcome of More Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.

The Core Challenge and a Path Forward

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the most recent merger game.