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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the organizations where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

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

Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two massive media empires battle over 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 mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump

This situation is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to favor that bidder more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump 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 editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Future of More Instability

Notably, if Netflix wins, 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 structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the latest corporate chess match.