The Tug-of-War Over CNN Shows How Flawed American Media Truly Is.

Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Situation During a Corporate Struggle

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Element: The Former President

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.

Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s 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 CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

A Possibility of Further Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis persists.

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

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

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

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the latest merger game.