🔗 Share this article

Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a perfect news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during crises like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a Business Tug-of-War

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important 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.

A Further Factor: The Former President

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

There is a basis to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.

An Outcome of Continued Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu argued.

The Core Issue and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem endures.

“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.