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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

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

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 destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

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

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

“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump

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

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to favor 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.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

An Outcome of More Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Core Challenge and a Path Forward

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – 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 latest merger game.