The Power Struggle For CNN Shows How Flawed US Journalism Has Become.

This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation During a High-Stakes Battle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

A Further Element: The Former President

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

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

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds 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.

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

A Possibility of More Instability

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Core Challenge and a Path Forward

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the most recent merger game.