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Late Thursday, while unconfirmed reports spread concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and guiding the public to her channel's 9pm newscast.

Even though the network is hardly a perfect news source, her message seemed accurate for numerous observers. It remains one of the outlets where you can find reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – particularly during fast-moving events like the one developing close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable Position Amid a Business Tug-of-War

But CNN, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a precarious state as two giant media conglomerates battle over ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

No matter the result, the fate of CNN has been drawn into a high-risk game of corporate ownership, not as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the profound systemic issues with origins in many years of policy decisions,” said Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a academic specializing in media policy at the Pennsylvania University.

The debate about which company will control Warner Bros Discovery – could it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – overlooks a broader point.

“It gets presented as a financial tale with key players as the central actors, but there is hardly any discussion of the societal benefit,” Pickard explained.

A Further Element: The Former President

The CNN scenario is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has consistently labeled as perhaps his primary “fake news” antagonist.

Remember the chants of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration’s punitive suspension of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will insulate him from journalistic oversight. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

Trump has reason to like that company more. For one thing, it is run by David Ellison, son of the pro-Trump Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people.

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

An Outcome of Further Instability

Significantly, if Netflix wins, CNN and other cable outlets would first be carved out into a standalone company. This might be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

According to Timothy Wu, much of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be detrimental to the country, and both should be challenged by anti-trust authorities,” Wu recently wrote.

The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead

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

“Our current system is a very system hostile to democracy, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and new policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair won’t even affirm that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Measures that strengthen independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, finance public media, and outlaw the concentration of media power in very few hands are within reach – they are necessary for a functioning democracy.

In the world of media ownership, larger is not superior. And news organizations like CNN shouldn’t be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.