This Tug-of-War For the Cable News Network Reveals The Extent to Which Dysfunctional US Journalism Truly Is.

Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Battle

However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield 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 hostile bid.

Trump has reason to favor that company 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized 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? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.