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On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State Amid a Corporate Battle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media corporations vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

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

The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Layer: Political Influence

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive 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 shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to prefer 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 appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that storied news network.

A Future of Further Instability

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead

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

“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the latest merger game.