🔗 Share this article

This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement rang true to many. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position Amid a Business Battle

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

A Further Element: The Former President

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to 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 disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue persists.

“What we have now is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.