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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where one can locate grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a Business Tug-of-War

However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

A Further Element: Donald Trump

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Possibility of Further Instability

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution

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

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and different 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 highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the newest acquisition battle.