🔗 Share this article This Power Struggle For CNN Shows The Extent to Which Flawed American Media Has Become. Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast. Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and largely reliable reporting – especially during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility. A Vulnerable Position During a Corporate Battle Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery. No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public. “This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University. The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point. “It gets presented as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said. A Further Element: Donald Trump The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe. Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges 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 negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid. Trump has reason 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. The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network. A Possibility of Further Uncertainty Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues. If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals. “Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote. The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures. “Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix 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 doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever. Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy. Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.