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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It stands as one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and largely dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a Corporate Struggle

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of policy decisions,” stated 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 – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

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

Think back to the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.

A Future of Continued Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will be impossible forever.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.