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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

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

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Element: Donald Trump

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

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

An Outcome of More Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Core Challenge and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in 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 Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the newest merger game.