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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a Corporate Battle

But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press 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 seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is run 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 placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Future of Further Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.

The Core Issue and a Path Forward

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

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new 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 should not imply it will never happen.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.