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Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and mostly reliable reporting – especially during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position During a Corporate Struggle

But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Layer: Donald Trump

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to like that suitor 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.

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

An Outcome of More Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, 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 far from a guarantee of stability. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Core Challenge and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

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

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the latest acquisition battle.