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Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation concerning the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins posted on social media, noting the confusion and pointing viewers to her network’s 9pm newscast.

While it is by no means a impeccable news source, her words seemed accurate for a lot of people. It stands as one of the organizations where one can locate reality-based and mostly reliable reporting – especially during breaking news situations such as the one taking place near a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious Situation During a High-Stakes Battle

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

No matter the result, the fate of CNN has become part of a high-stakes game of business acquisition, instead of as a question of what serves the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the profound systemic issues with roots in decades of regulatory actions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a professor of media policy at the Penn.

The speculation about who will own Warner Bros Discovery – will it be Netflix or Paramount Skydance? – misses a more important point.

“It gets presented as a business story with key players as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the public interest,” Pickard said.

The Complicating Layer: Political Influence

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

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

Trump now says that the network requires new ownership. Many see this as a desire for ownership that will protect him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a aggressive takeover attempt.

He has grounds to prefer that suitor 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, parent of CBS News, also recently placed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, noted for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that historic news network.

A Possibility of Continued Instability

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a standalone company. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s far from a secure position. That structure could set up CNN for yet another acquisition. The cycle continues.

In the view of Timothy Wu, a great deal of this is illegal, anyway. The influential voice of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should disallow both deals.

“Each proposed deal would be bad for the country, and both should be challenged by regulators,” Wu stated.

The Core Issue and a Potential Solution

Whatever happens in this situation, the bigger problem persists.

“What we have now is a very anti-democratic system, but we must resist a sense of powerlessness,” Pickard said. Regulatory choices – originating in the 1930s and 1940s – helped to create this hyper-commercialized monster, and different policy decisions can tackle it.

Can reform occur in an era where the head of the FCC will not confirm that the agency is independent? Overhaul is very unlikely now, but that should not imply it will never happen.

Policies that support independent news organizations, bolster local journalism, fund public media, and prevent the accumulation of media power in a handful of hands are achievable – they are essential for a healthy democracy.

Regarding media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN cannot be pawns in the most recent merger game.