🔗 Share this article

On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle

Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

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

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Additional Element: Donald Trump

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

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

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

A Possibility of More Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix prevails, 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 hardly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.

“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the newest merger game.