This Power Struggle Over CNN Highlights How Broken American Journalism Has Become.

This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

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

However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

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

The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Factor: Political Influence

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Future of Further Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.

“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.