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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message resonated to many. It remains one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position During a Corporate Tug-of-War

But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Layer: Political Influence

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

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of More Instability

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

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

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution

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

“The present media landscape is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.