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

While it is by no means a perfect news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where you can find reality-based and largely reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a High-Stakes Battle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two huge media empires vie for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

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

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Factor: Political Influence

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

There is a basis to prefer 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 placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should block both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis remains.

“What we have now is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are vital for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations including CNN must not be tools in the latest acquisition battle.