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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her statement rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate fact-based and largely reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War

But the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious position as two giant media empires vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“It is often framed as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

A Further Layer: Donald Trump

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 punitive 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. Many see this as a desire for 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.

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 appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Core Problem and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem remains.

“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.