🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It is one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation Amid a Corporate Struggle

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

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

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

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

Remember 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 the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

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

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

A Future of More Instability

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis persists.

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.