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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although it is by no means a impeccable news source, her statement rang true to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists reality-based and mostly dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a High-Stakes Struggle

Yet CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable position as two huge media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

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

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a more important point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

The CNN scenario is made more complex by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

Remember the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration’s punitive withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

He has grounds to prefer 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.

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

An Outcome of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. This might be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. The cycle continues.

According to Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.

The Core Problem and a Path Forward

Whatever happens in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.

“What we have now is a very structure that undermines democracy, but we must resist learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can fix it.

Is this likely in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is very unlikely now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Measures that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in very few hands are achievable – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN must not be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.