The Power Struggle Over the Cable News Network Reveals The Extent to Which Dysfunctional US Journalism Has Become.

Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a Corporate Struggle

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Element: Donald Trump

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to like that suitor 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 appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Future of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem remains.

“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the latest merger game.