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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

A Further Factor: The Former President

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.

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

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

Trump has reason to like that bidder 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, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.

A Future of Continued Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, 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 not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.

The Core Problem and a Way Ahead

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

“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

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

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.