The Tug-of-War For CNN Reveals How Flawed US Journalism Now Is.

Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where you can find fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Additional Element: Donald Trump

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Remember 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 White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.

The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the most recent merger game.