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On Thursday evening, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position Amid a Corporate Struggle

Yet the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a more important point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Layer: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to favor 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 appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Future of More Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That arrangement could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. It never ends.

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

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

The Bigger Challenge and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.