This Power Struggle For the Cable News Network Reveals How Dysfunctional American Journalism Has Become.

On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words rang true to many. It is one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Struggle

But CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

A Further Factor: Donald Trump

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.