This Corporate Battle Over the Cable News Network Reveals How Broken US Journalism Has Become.

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

Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message resonated to many. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Business Battle

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

A Further Factor: The Former President

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

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

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

There is a basis to like that bidder 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.

Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

A Future of More Turmoil

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 far from a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem persists.

“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the newest merger game.