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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread 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.

Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message resonated to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and generally reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War

But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“It is often framed as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Factor: Political Influence

The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

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

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

An Outcome of Further Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

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

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome in this situation, the larger issue persists.

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be tools in the latest acquisition battle.