This Power Struggle Over CNN Reveals How Broken American Media Truly Is.

On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State Amid a Corporate Battle

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn 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 fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Additional Element: Donald Trump

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Possibility of More Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

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

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue persists.

“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.