Current CNN has lost their special standing as the honest news broker. What appeal do they have over the masses of news content providers/commentariat at this stage?

Hard to believe but I honestly don't know. There is nothing special or unique about CNNs news that will make me pay for it. I will just get it somewhere else.

Paywalls work when you offer content not easily available everywhere else. NY Times or WSJ come to mind.

CNN in my opinion has no special content. It's just one of tens of national news sites, full of weird ad spam below the fold. I don't see this working well for them, but I've been wrong before.