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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where there exists grounded and mostly reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could 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 protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

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

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

There is a basis to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

An Outcome of More Instability

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Core Problem and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.