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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her message rang true to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position During a High-Stakes Battle

However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with key players as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Element: The Former President

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

Remember the shouts 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. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

A Future of Further Instability

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 hardly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem remains.

“Our current system is a highly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.