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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State Amid a Business Battle

Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

A Further Layer: The Former President

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

Remember the cries 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 press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

There is a basis to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump 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 top editor of that historic news network.

A Future of More Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.

The Core Problem and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

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

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the latest merger game.