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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread regarding the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – particularly during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a Business Battle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

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

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

A Further Factor: Political Influence

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” antagonist.

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Future of Continued Uncertainty

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.

“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this overly commercial monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, aid local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the newest merger game.