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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her statement seemed accurate for numerous observers. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate fact-based and largely dependable reporting – especially during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

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

“It is often framed as a financial tale with powerful individuals as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

A Further Layer: The Former President

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” antagonist.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled 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 placed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

A Future of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could position CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu stated.

The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

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

When it comes to media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the latest corporate chess match.