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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a Corporate Struggle

However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

A Further Element: Political Influence

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

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

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

A Future of Continued Turmoil

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

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

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

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different 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? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the latest merger game.