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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Battle

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Element: The Former President

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

An Outcome of More Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

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

The Core Problem and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.