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This past Thursday night, as rumors swirled concerning a shooting at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words rang true for a lot of people. It remains one of the outlets where you can find fact-based and largely dependable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Business Tug-of-War

However CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a uncertain situation as two massive media conglomerates battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a major game of business acquisition, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This represents another instance of the fundamental flaws with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

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

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

A Further Layer: Political Influence

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

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 press briefings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to prefer that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the ally of Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

An Outcome of More Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a independent unit. Such a move could be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for 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 well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be contested by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Challenge and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens with this particular battle, the bigger problem remains.

“What we have now is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised 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? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will be impossible forever.

Initiatives that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and outlaw the consolidation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the newest corporate chess match.