🔗 Share this article

This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Battle

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, 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 benefits the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

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

“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

A Further Layer: The Former President

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

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

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Possibility of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.

“What we have now is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.