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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the broadcasters where there exists fact-based and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation During a Corporate Battle

However the news network, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future 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 fundamental flaws with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Factor: Political Influence

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.

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

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like that company 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.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the conservative Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Future of Further Instability

Notably, if Netflix is successful, 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 not exactly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue remains.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

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

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest acquisition battle.