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Late Thursday, amid swirling speculation about the Brown University gunman, the network's Kaitlan Collins used social media, noting the confusion and directing people to her network’s 9pm newscast.

Although CNN is certainly not a perfect news source, her words resonated for numerous observers. It remains one of the broadcasters where one can locate grounded and largely reliable reporting – notably during fast-moving events like the one unfolding close to a New Hampshire storage facility.

A Precarious State During a Corporate Struggle

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

Regardless of who wins, the fate of CNN has turned into a high-stakes game of business acquisition, not as a question of what helps the information-seeking public.

“This is yet another example of the deep structural problems with roots in decades of policy decisions,” noted Victor Pickard, author of “Democracy Without Journalism?” and a media policy professor at the Pennsylvania University.

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

“It gets presented as a business story with influential figures as the main characters, but there is very little discussion of the common good,” Pickard explained.

The Additional Layer: The Former President

This situation is further muddied by Donald Trump’s views about a network he has frequently denounced as perhaps his primary “fake news” adversary.

Recall the cries of “CNN sucks!” at the president’s rallies, his administration's retaliatory withdrawal of reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials, or his tense exchanges with Collins in official meetings.

Trump now asserts that CNN needs new ownership. You can read that as ownership that will shield him from negative coverage and examination. That is a factor in why he appears to support Paramount Skydance, which has made a hostile bid.

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

The company, parent of CBS News, also recently installed the right-leaning Bari Weiss, famous for her “anti-woke” beliefs, as the editor-in-chief of that venerable news network.

An Outcome of Continued Turmoil

Significantly, if Netflix is successful, CNN and other cable outlets would first be spun off into a separate entity. That would be a relief to many at the network, but it’s hardly a safe harbor. That structure could pave the way for CNN for another sale. There is no finish line.

If you ask Timothy Wu, a lot of this is illegal, anyway. The well-known analyst of big tech’s dominance recently argued that anti-trust laws should block both deals.

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

The Fundamental Challenge and a Potential Solution

Regardless of the resolution with this particular battle, the larger issue endures.

“Our current system is a profoundly anti-democratic system, but we ought not succumb to learned helplessness,” Pickard said. Policy decisions – from the 1930s and 1940s – helped to foster this profit-obsessed monster, and different 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? Reform is a distant prospect now, but that should not imply it will not happen in the future.

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

When it comes to media ownership, size does not equal quality. And news organizations including CNN must not be pieces in the most recent acquisition battle.