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On Thursday evening, amid swirling speculation about an incident at Brown University, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, highlighting the uncertainty and guiding the public to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While the network is hardly a flawless news source, her statement seemed accurate to many. It remains one of the organizations where one can locate grounded and generally trustworthy reporting – notably during fast-moving events such as the one developing near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a Corporate Tug-of-War

Yet the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable state as two giant media empires compete for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery.

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-risk game of business acquisition, rather than as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“Here is one more case of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of governmental choices,” said Victor Pickard, writer of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

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

“It is often framed as a business story with powerful individuals as the main characters, but there is scant discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Element: Donald Trump

The network's predicament is further muddied by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his main “fake news” adversary.

Remember the cries of “CNN sucks!” at his rallies, his team's disciplinary withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in White House briefings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will insulate him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

He has grounds to like that company 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 right-leaning Bari Weiss, known for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

A Future of Continued Instability

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be separated into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s not exactly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for a future sale. It never ends.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Way Ahead

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the underlying crisis endures.

“Our current system is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard emphasized. Regulatory choices – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this profit-obsessed monster, and revised policy decisions can fix it.

Will that happen in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Change is a distant prospect now, but that is not to say it will not happen in the future.

Initiatives that support independent news organizations, reinforce local journalism, fund public media, and prohibit the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a robust democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN shouldn’t be tools in the most recent acquisition battle.