🔗 Share this article

This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

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

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Element: The Former President

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of Further Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

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

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent merger game.