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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where there exists reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position Amid a Corporate Struggle

Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: Political Influence

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

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

An Outcome of Further Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue persists.

“What we have now is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.