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Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a major game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a larger point.

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Element: Political Influence

The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Possibility of Further Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem persists.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be tools in the latest corporate chess match.