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This past Thursday night, while unconfirmed reports spread about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – especially during breaking news situations like the one developing in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a Business Tug-of-War

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a uncertain state as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

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

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

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

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with key players as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Layer: Donald Trump

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

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his team's disciplinary 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. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

There is a basis to like that suitor more. For one thing, it is led by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the top editor of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Further Instability

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a secure position. That arrangement could position CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

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

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

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome in this situation, the bigger problem endures.

“What we have now is a very system hostile to democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Policy decisions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can fix it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are achievable – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pieces in the newest acquisition battle.