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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion 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 remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Situation Amid a Corporate Battle

But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Factor: Donald Trump

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

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

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to prefer that suitor 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

An Outcome of More Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, 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 not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution

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

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm 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 strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

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