🔗 Share this article

On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Struggle

But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of Continued Instability

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.