This Corporate Battle For the Cable News Network Reveals The Extent to Which Dysfunctional American Journalism Truly Is.

On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a flawless news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Battle

Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Factor: Donald Trump

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

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

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of 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 suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

A Possibility of Further Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.

“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.