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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her statement resonated to many. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and generally dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a Business Tug-of-War

Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.

“It is often framed as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Element: The Former President

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.

Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation 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 shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

An Outcome of Continued Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.

“What we have now is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN must not be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.