🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation During a Business Struggle

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

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

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

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

He has grounds to like that bidder 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

An Outcome of Further Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.