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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a Corporate Struggle

However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media corporations vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“It gets presented as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Layer: The Former President

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

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like that suitor 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.

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

A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

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

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.

The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.

“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Measures that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent merger game.