The Corporate Battle Over the Cable News Network Reveals How Broken American Media Now Is.

This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State During a Business Tug-of-War

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

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Factor: Political Influence

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

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

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is run 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 installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.

A Future of Continued Instability

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the larger issue persists.

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.