Aside from being the creative brain behind Cable News Network (CNN) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM), and his leftist political leanings, I paid scant attention to billionaire mogul Ted Turner and his antics. However, had Turner not transformed the model of how news and information was being delivered, what we all do here at Townhall Media and other internet, cable, and streaming outlets like the Federalist, Fox News, Newsmax, One America News Network, and others, would not have been possible.
As one early CNN anchor who now lectures on media and public affairs opined:
“I teach these young people and they have no idea who Ted Turner is,“ Sesno said. “I remind them this was, in fact, the world of Walter Cronkite. Ted Turner came in and and CNN was seen as an upstart, as something that wasn’t going to succeed.” Thus the derisive moniker “Chicken Noodle News,” which was echoing across the industry when Sesno joined the network in 1984.
The Iraq War, and CNN's 24-7 coverage which trumped the legacy shops of ABC, CBS, and NBC, further changed the landscape and put CNN on the map. So, in a sense, Turner envisioned what people said could not be done, then made it happen — not just with his millions — but through sheer force of will.
For that, he gets a tip of the hat.
Turner also focused on conservation and philanthropy. To this day, he is among the top four landowners in the United States. Turner did this in order to preserve open land and prevent over development. Turner was also instrumental in the revitalization and conservation of the American bison, one of the enduring symbols of the American West.
In 2018, Turner slowly faded from the public eye. Turner revealed that he suffered from Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurological disorder. He lingered for eight more years after that. On Wednesday, Turner died peacefully at his home, surrounded by family. He was 87 years old.
Ted Turner, the media maverick and philanthropist who founded CNN, a pioneering 24-hour network that revolutionized television news, died peacefully Wednesday, surrounded by his family, according to a news release from Turner Enterprises. He was 87.
The Ohio-born Atlanta businessman, nicknamed “The Mouth of the South” for his outspoken nature, built a media empire that encompassed cable’s first superstation and popular channels for movies and cartoons, plus professional sports teams like the Atlanta Braves.
Our President Donald J. Trump said it well: The CNN we mock and malign today is not the CNN that Turner created. Trump wrote on Truth Social:
Ted Turner, one of the Greats of All Time, just died. He founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his “baby,” and destroyed it. It became woke, and everything that he is not all about. Maybe the new buyers, wonderful people, will be able to bring it back to its former credibility and glory. Regardless, however, 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! President DONALD J. TRUMP
One of his most famous ex-wives, actress Jane Fonda, also paid tribute to someone she deemed her favorite ex-husband.
Jane Fonda pays tribute to her former husband, Ted Turner:
— Variety (@Variety) May 6, 2026
“He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same,” Fonda wrote on Instagram. “He needed me. No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t… pic.twitter.com/ciDAcIOxrr
“He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same,” Fonda wrote on Instagram. “He needed me. No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t your average human being that needed me, this was the creator of CNN, and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor. He had a big life, a brilliant mind and a soaring sense of humor."
“He could also take care of me. That was new as well. To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative. Ted Turner helped me believe in myself. He gave me confidence. I think I did the same for him, but that’s what women are raised to do. Men like Ted aren’t supposed to express need and vulnerability. That was Ted’s greatest strength, I believe."
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Robert Edward Turner III was born on Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati. After famously being kicked out of Brown University, Turner took over his father's billboard advertising business.
His first step in media was inheriting his father’s billboard business. He then shifted to television, taking a money-losing UHF television station in Atlanta and transforming it into WTRS, then Turner Broadcasting System. It entered the homes of 2 million cable subscribers as “superstation” TBS via satellite delivery, which led to the blossoming of satellite and cable TV in the mid-’70s. He decided that his channels needed new shows, so he invented TNT and helped pioneer the concept of original programming on basic cable. He also owned MGM for a time, selling the studio and name but retaining the massive library.
He started CNN, as well as other cablers like the Cartoon Network, and invented “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” a TV toon with an environmental message. Overpopulation and nuclear disarmament were other passionate causes for which he worked and donated tirelessly.
He often joked that his formula for success was “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise.”
Many pioneering right-of-center and conservative news icons cut their teeth at Turner's CNN, including the late Lou Dobbs, the late Larry King, and Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. Bartiromo paid tribute to Turner on X:
At Ted Turners @CNN, I learned how to cover a story as it was happening live. It was the first Gulf war & I started at cnn in 1989 and Turner was innovating, creating a 24 hour news platform. I absorbed everything like a sponge as a young production assistant and was able to…
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) May 6, 2026
At Ted Turners @CNN, I learned how to cover a story as it was happening live. It was the first Gulf war & I started at cnn in 1989 and Turner was innovating, creating a 24 hour news platform. I absorbed everything like a sponge as a young production assistant and was able to move up the corporate ladder quickly. It was my first job in tv right out of @NYU.. it gave me great insight in covering stocks live during market hours from the @nyse when I went on camera for the first time in 1993 for @cnbc I am grateful for turners vision and for allowing me to be part of a pioneering team at cnn, which set me up to be a pioneer again at cnbc when I became the first person to broadcast from the floor of the nyse I am grateful for Ted's innovation #RIP Ted.
Independent journalist Sharyl Attkisson, who worked at CNN for three years, also gave some key insights:
Ted Turner was a great boss when I was at CNN 1990 to 1993.
— Sharyl Attkisson 🕵️♂️💼🥋 (@SharylAttkisson) May 6, 2026
He stayed out of the daily news coverage, and, as far as I knew, even though he held strong opinions, he always advocated for fair, unopinionated news.
It would not even have occurred to us as anchors to give…
Ted Turner was a great boss when I was at CNN 1990 to 1993.
He stayed out of the daily news coverage, and, as far as I knew, even though he held strong opinions, he always advocated for fair, unopinionated news.
It would not even have occurred to us as anchors to give our opinions.
To this day, I don’t know where the anchors I sat next to stood on the political spectrum. There was never any reason to discuss such things.
Turner was rabid about many leftist causes: climate change, eugenics, abortion, anti-military. While Turner funded certain good causes, like the Goodwill Games and championed and won the America's Cup, he also funded a whole lot of the bad. However, I doubt Turner would be on board with this current wave of socialism, communism, and "Eat the Rich"/anti-capitalist fervor that has gripped the Left and Democrats.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. According to a Turner Enterprises press release, there will be a private funeral service for family, and a public memorial is planned for a later date.
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