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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled regarding the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins took to social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a impeccable news source, her words rang true for numerous observers. It is one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and mostly dependable reporting – notably during breaking news situations such as the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Position During a High-Stakes Tug-of-War

Yet the news network, now 45 years old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the fundamental flaws with origins in many years of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Penn.

The conjecture about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

A Further Element: The Former President

The CNN scenario is complicated by Donald Trump’s opinions about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at Trump's rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his sparring with Collins in press briefings.

Trump now claims that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

There is a basis to favor that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the Trump-friendly Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently appointed the conservative Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Continued Uncertainty

It is important to note, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a independent unit. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst 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 challenged by the government,” Wu argued.

The Fundamental Problem and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome in this situation, the underlying crisis persists.

“Our current system is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the top communications regulator refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Policies that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a healthy democracy.

In the world of media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations like CNN cannot be pawns in the newest acquisition battle.