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This past Thursday night, amid swirling speculation concerning an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While CNN is certainly not a impeccable news source, her message resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and generally dependable reporting – particularly during breaking news situations like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

An Uncertain Situation During a Corporate Battle

But CNN, now 45 years old, finds itself in a precarious state as two massive media corporations battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the future of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, instead of as a question of what benefits the news-consuming public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with origins in decades of regulatory actions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

The speculation 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 powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

A Further Layer: The Former President

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

Recall the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his administration's retaliatory suspension 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 protect 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.

Trump has reason to prefer that bidder more. For one thing, it is run 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 conservative Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of More 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 welcome development to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That setup could set up CNN for a future sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by the government,” Wu recently wrote.

The Bigger Issue and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the underlying crisis remains.

“The present media landscape is a highly anti-democratic system, but we shouldn’t give in to the belief that change is impossible,” Pickard emphasized. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this hyper-commercialized monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will never happen.

Policies that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, subsidize public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in a handful of hands are not only possible – they are essential for a robust democracy.

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the latest acquisition battle.