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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her message rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position During a Business Battle

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

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

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that storied news network.

A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu argued.

The Fundamental Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.