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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and generally dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position Amid a Business Battle

However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Element: The Former President

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’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 asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

An Outcome of Further Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue remains.

“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.