The Tug-of-War Over the Cable News Network Reveals How Dysfunctional US Media Truly Is.

This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Battle

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

The Additional Element: The Former President

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to favor that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Future of Continued Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.