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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Layer: The Former President

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to favor that bidder 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 installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

A Future of More Instability

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Core Problem and a Path Forward

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

“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest merger game.