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On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where there exists fact-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during crises such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position During a Corporate Battle

However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

The Additional Layer: Political Influence

The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.

A Future of Continued Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, 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 hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.