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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State Amid a Corporate Battle

However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades 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? – misses a broader point.

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

The Complicating Factor: Political Influence

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

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

He has grounds to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

A Future of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur 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.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.