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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 network’s 9pm newscast.

Although the network is hardly a perfect news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find grounded and largely reliable reporting – especially during fast-moving events like the one unfolding in the vicinity of a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Business Battle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a uncertain state as two massive media conglomerates compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the destiny of CNN has turned into a major game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what benefits the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Penn.

The conjecture about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a broader point.

“It gets presented as a financial tale with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is very little discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Complicating Factor: The Former President

The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his main “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now claims that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from journalistic oversight. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

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

A Future of More Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a standalone company. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Either merger would be detrimental to the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Issue and a Path Forward

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem persists.

“The present media landscape is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – dating back to the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this hyper-commercialized monster, and different 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 a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are vital for a healthy democracy.

In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pieces in the newest corporate chess match.