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On Thursday evening, as rumors swirled about a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where there exists grounded and largely trustworthy reporting – notably during crises like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a High-Stakes Struggle

However the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media corporations compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard explained.

A Further Factor: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Think back to the chants of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Possibility of Continued Instability

Notably, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis endures.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly system hostile to democracy, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations such as CNN must not be tools in the most recent corporate chess match.