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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about the Brown University gunman, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her message rang true to many. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation Amid a Business Tug-of-War

Yet CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain position as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of mergers and acquisitions, not as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

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

The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard added.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

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

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now says that CNN needs new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to favor that suitor more. For one thing, it is controlled by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

A Possibility of More Turmoil

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Core Problem and a Way Ahead

Regardless of the resolution in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Regulatory choices – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

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

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are necessary for a robust democracy.

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