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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, highlighting the uncertainty and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where you can find grounded and mostly trustworthy reporting – notably during breaking news situations like the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Corporate Tug-of-War

However the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the destiny of CNN has turned into a high-risk game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the deep structural problems with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

The debate about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a financial tale with influential figures as the central actors, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Layer: The Former President

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

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

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he seems to favor Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

Trump has reason to like 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, owner of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that storied news network.

A Possibility of Further Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a independent unit. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should prohibit both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be harmful to the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu argued.

The Fundamental Problem and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“The present media landscape is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard noted. Government actions – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new 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 should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the consolidation of media power in a handful of hands are within reach – they are vital for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN cannot be tools in the newest corporate chess match.