🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true to many. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

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

“It gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

A Further Factor: Donald Trump

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

There is a basis to prefer that bidder 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.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Future of Continued Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised 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 very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent merger game.