Ted Turner founded CNN in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980 – Image: Nancy Mangiafico/AP Photo/picture alliance
Ted Turner revolutionized news media and became one of the most prominent business leaders and philanthropists of his era.
US broadcast news pioneer and CNN founder Ted Turner has passed away, the cable news channel announced on Wednesday.
Turner launched CNN in 1980 and revolutionized the way news was consumed in the US and the world by establishing the round-the-clock breaking news system, which reshaped the television industry in the late 20th century.
The Ohio native founded his media empire in Atlanta, Georgia, and after selling CNN to Time Warner, went on to become one of the most prominent business leaders and philanthropists of his era. He invested in sports teams, supported habitat restoration in the American mountain West and donated $1 billion (roughly €850 million) to United Nations charities, among his many achievements.
No cause of death was given, but Turner had been battling Lewy body dementia, a little-known neurodegenerative disease, since 2018.
US President Donald Trump praised Turner’s legacy at the time of his passing.
“Ted Turner, one of the Greats of All Time, just died,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “One of the Greats of Broadcast History, and a friend of mine. Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause!”
From reviving a faltering family business to news media
Born in Cincinnati, Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III never finished his college career at Brown University, having been expelled before graduating.
He went on to take over the family advertising business after his father took his own life, due to financial problems.
Turner first purchased a number of radio stations before acquiring a struggling news station in Atlanta in 1970, his first foray into television.
Moved by the frustration of not being able to catch television news programs, which were at 8:00 pm when he was not yet home from work and 11:00pm when he was already in bed, he launched the 24-hour, all-news, CNN.
“I was going to have to hit hard and move incredibly fast and that’s what we did — move so fast that the [broadcast] networks wouldn’t have the time to respond, because they should have done this, not me,” Turner said about this moment, in a 2016 interview with the Academy of Achievement. “But they didn’t have the imagination,” he added.
Gulf War: a turning point
The Gulf War with Iraq in 1991 was the moment that catapulted CNN and changed the news media.
While most television journalists fled Baghdad, ahead of an imminent US attack, CNN remained on the scene and brought the war live to the public.
The network captured the first live images of a war’s outbreak, with anti-aircraft tracers streaking across the sky and correspondents flinching from the concussion of bombs.
The success of the network’s news media revolution inspired the creation of other 24-hour news channels including Fox News by longtime Turner rival Rupert Murdoch, MSNBC and countless other networks worldwide.
Turner’s television empire expanded beyond CNN and included TBS and TNT channels for sports and entertainment, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network, among others.
DW.com/NAN 07-05-26
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