This Corporate Battle Over the Cable News Network Highlights The Extent to Which Broken American Media Now Is.

Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

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

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems 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? – misses a more important point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Element: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press 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 a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

He has grounds to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run 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 installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. 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 anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Core Issue and a Potential Solution

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

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.

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