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

While it is by no means a flawless news source, her words resonated for a lot of people. It stands as one of the broadcasters where you can find reality-based and largely dependable reporting – notably during crises such as the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Vulnerable State During a Corporate Battle

But the news network, now four and a half decades old, finds itself in a vulnerable situation as two massive 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 major game of mergers and acquisitions, rather than as a question of what helps the news-consuming public.

“This represents another instance of the profound systemic issues with roots in many years of governmental choices,” stated Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The conjecture about the future owner of Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – fails to grasp a larger point.

“The narrative is crafted as a business story with powerful individuals as the protagonists, but there is hardly any discussion of the common good,” Pickard added.

The Complicating Element: Political Influence

The network's predicament is complicated by Donald Trump’s longstanding stance about a network he has long portrayed as perhaps his primary “fake news” foe.

Think back to the shouts of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his team's disciplinary revocation of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his clashes with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that the network requires new ownership. This can be interpreted as ownership that will protect him from criticism and scrutiny. That is one reason why he seems to come down on the side of Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

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

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

An Outcome of Further Turmoil

Notably, if Netflix prevails, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a welcome development to many at the network, but it’s hardly a secure position. That setup could pave the way for CNN for yet another acquisition. There is no finish line.

In the view of Timothy Wu, much of this is a violation of antitrust statutes, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance wrote recently that competition laws should disallow both deals.

“Both acquisition attempts would be bad for the country, and both should be opposed by regulators,” Wu argued.

The Core Issue and a Potential Solution

No matter the outcome with this particular battle, the bigger problem persists.

“The present media landscape is a highly structure that undermines democracy, but we shouldn’t give in to a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Government actions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this overly commercial monster, and revised policy decisions can address it.

Can reform occur in an era where the Federal Communications Commission chair refuses to acknowledge that the agency is independent? Change is highly improbable now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Measures that support independent news organizations, aid local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the concentration of media power in too few hands are within reach – they are essential for a functioning democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations such as CNN must not be pawns in the most recent corporate chess match.