🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State Amid a High-Stakes Battle

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

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

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.

“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

A Further Layer: The Former President

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

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

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

The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward

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

“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest merger game.