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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain State During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two huge media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

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

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in many years of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

The speculation about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.

“It is often framed as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Element: Political Influence

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” adversary.

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to prefer that bidder 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, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the lead editor of that venerable news network.

A Possibility of Continued Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a guarantee of stability. That setup could pave the way for CNN for another sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should block both deals.

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

The Bigger Problem and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem endures.

“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Government actions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pieces in the latest corporate chess match.