🔗 Share this article

On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War

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

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

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

The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Layer: Political Influence

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of Further Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

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

The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.

“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.