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Late Thursday, as rumors swirled regarding a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her message resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where there exists grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Struggle

However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain position as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

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

Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

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

A Future of Further Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent merger game.