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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on 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 statement resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State During a Business Tug-of-War

However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.

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

The Complicating Element: The Former President

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

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

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

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Future of Continued Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis remains.

“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Measures that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.