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Late Thursday, as rumors swirled concerning an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a flawless news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the outlets where one can locate fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State Amid a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

“It gets presented as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Layer: The Former President

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

He has grounds to prefer that suitor more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

An Outcome of More Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

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

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

The Fundamental Problem and a Path Forward

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.