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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about 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 flawless news source, her statement resonated to many. It stands as one of the outlets where there exists grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

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

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Additional Factor: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary 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. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like that bidder 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of Continued Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Core Problem and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the latest corporate chess match.