🔗 Share this article

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

Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It stands as one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

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

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

“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Factor: The Former President

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

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

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. 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 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Future of Continued Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

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

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the most recent merger game.