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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and generally dependable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a Corporate Battle

However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

A Further Factor: The Former President

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.

Remember 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 press briefings.

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

An Outcome of More Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.

“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

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