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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It is one of the outlets where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position Amid a Business Battle

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

A Further Factor: The Former President

The network's predicament is further muddied 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 administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

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

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Future of Continued Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“Our current system is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the most recent merger game.