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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

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

A Precarious Position Amid a High-Stakes Battle

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Layer: The Former President

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

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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.

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

A Possibility of Further Instability

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.

“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest corporate chess match.