🔗 Share this article

On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Corporate Battle

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

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

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to prefer that suitor 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More Instability

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.

The Core Problem and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.

“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to 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 top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.