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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement resonated to many. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and largely dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Battle

However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

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

The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump

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

Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Future of Further Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu argued.

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the larger issue remains.

“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.