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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a perfect news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation During a Corporate Struggle

Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

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

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It gets presented as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Element: The Former President

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate 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.

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

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

A Future of Continued Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead

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

“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Measures that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest corporate chess match.