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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and generally reliable reporting – notably during crises like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War

However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Additional Layer: The Former President

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

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

An Outcome of Continued Instability

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. 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 wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.

“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the latest acquisition battle.