The Tug-of-War Over CNN Reveals How Flawed US Media Truly Is.

This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn 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 regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Layer: Political Influence

The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to like that bidder 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, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Future of Continued Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

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

The Core Issue and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.

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