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Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and generally dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious situation as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Factor: The Former President

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

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to like that company 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, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Future of Further Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for a future 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 prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Core Issue and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.

“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.