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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, pointing out the conflicting information and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and mostly dependable reporting – notably during crises like the one taking place in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two huge media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“It is often framed as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Element: Political Influence

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

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

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

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

A Possibility of Continued Instability

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue remains.

“Our current system is a highly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in 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 head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, subsidize public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of 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 pieces in the newest acquisition battle.