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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her words resonated to many. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate fact-based and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during crises such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a Corporate Battle

However CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to 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 hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

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

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 tense exchanges with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to favor that company more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Future of Continued Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Either merger would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu argued.

The Core Issue and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the larger issue remains.

“Our current system is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we ought not succumb to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

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