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

Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State Amid a Corporate Battle

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media empires vie for 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 news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

A Further Layer: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to prefer that bidder 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Possibility of Continued Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

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