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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find grounded and largely dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation During a Business Battle

Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

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

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

The Complicating Element: Political Influence

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

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

A Future of More Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.

“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest merger game.