The Corporate Battle For the Cable News Network Reveals The Extent to Which Flawed US Media Now Is.

Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread 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 the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Situation Amid a High-Stakes Struggle

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

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking 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 Pennsylvania University.

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

A Further Factor: Political Influence

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

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

A Future of Continued Instability

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. 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 wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.

“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.