🔗 Share this article

On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where there exists reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking 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 academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

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

The Complicating Factor: The Former President

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

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like 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, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

A Possibility of Continued Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

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

The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.