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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation regarding a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and largely reliable reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Battle

However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

A Further Factor: The Former President

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive 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 insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

An Outcome of More Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

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