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Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her message rang true to many. It is one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place close to 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 situation as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Layer: The Former President

The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to favor 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

An Outcome of Further Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be opposed by the government,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the newest acquisition battle.