🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position During a High-Stakes Battle

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Future of More Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.

The Core Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.