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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about a shooting at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It is one of the organizations where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the destiny of CNN has been drawn into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with roots in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with key players as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Layer: Donald Trump

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to favor that company 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, owner of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that historic news network.

An Outcome of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That arrangement could position CNN for a future sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Problem and a Path Forward

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Measures that bolster independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are not only possible – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the newest merger game.