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Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a flawless news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It is one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State Amid a Corporate Tug-of-War

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of corporate ownership, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” noted Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“The narrative is crafted as a corporate drama with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the public interest,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Factor: Donald Trump

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

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

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like that bidder more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

An Outcome of More Instability

It is important to note, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That arrangement could set up CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.

“Either merger would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the larger issue endures.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is very unlikely now, but that doesn’t mean it will never happen.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN must not be pawns in the latest corporate chess match.