🔗 Share this article

This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and generally reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position During a Corporate Battle

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media empires vie 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 mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Element: The Former President

The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires 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 unsolicited offer.

There is a basis 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.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Further Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the newest merger game.