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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists reality-based and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War

However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important 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 added.

The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

There is a basis to like that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

A Future of Further Instability

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue persists.

“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent merger game.