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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate reality-based and largely reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Element: Donald Trump

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

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. 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 prefer that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted 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 separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

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

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the most recent merger game.