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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, pointing out the conflicting information and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the broadcasters where there exists grounded and generally dependable reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one taking place close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State Amid a Business Battle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two huge media conglomerates compete for ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with origins in decades of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The speculation about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a broader point.

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard said.

The Additional Factor: The Former President

The network's predicament is made more complex by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Recall the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from negative coverage and examination. That is one reason why he appears to favor 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 pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

Paramount, owner of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

An Outcome of Continued Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a separate entity. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a safe harbor. That setup could position CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

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

The Core Issue and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution regarding CNN, the underlying crisis persists.

“The present media landscape is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different policy decisions can address it.

Is this likely in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that doesn’t mean it will be impossible forever.

Policies that strengthen independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent corporate chess match.