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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a flawless news source, her message seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where there exists reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle

Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious position as two massive media corporations compete for 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, instead of as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the main characters, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

A Further Layer: Donald Trump

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to like that bidder 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.

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

A Future of Continued Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. It never ends.

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

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens in this situation, the larger issue endures.

“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.