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

While the network is hardly a perfect news source, her statement seemed accurate for a lot of people. It is one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and largely dependable reporting – particularly during crises like the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position Amid a High-Stakes Struggle

However CNN, now middle-aged, finds itself in a precarious situation as two giant media empires battle over ownership of its corporate owner, Warner Bros Discovery.

Whatever the outcome, the future of CNN has become part of a major game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what serves the news-consuming public.

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

The debate about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – is it going to be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It is often framed as a corporate drama with influential figures as the protagonists, but there is scant discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Element: Donald Trump

This situation is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his chief “fake news” foe.

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

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will shield him from criticism and scrutiny. That is part of why he appears to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a unsolicited offer.

There is a basis to like 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 venerable news network.

A Possibility of Further Uncertainty

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. Such a move could be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a guarantee of stability. That setup could set up CNN for another sale. It never ends.

According to Timothy Wu, a lot of this is against the law, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance stated that competition laws should block both deals.

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

The Bigger Problem and a Way Ahead

Whatever happens regarding CNN, the bigger problem remains.

“Our current system is a profoundly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to learned helplessness,” Pickard noted. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to build this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Policies that bolster independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in very few hands are not only possible – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, bigger isn’t better. And news organizations such as CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent acquisition battle.