“I hate the news,” he’d say. “The news is boring" :::: Ted Turner, the founder of CNN dies at 87 :::: "Captain Outrageous" ...... unstoppable media revolution

 The only difference between Fantasy of a Success and the bitter reality of Struggle is - an accident ..sometime called Fantasy and sometime Glories. This is what had happened with Ted Turner -- the man who created CNN.  

It is the Cable News Network and for Indians it was the TV channel that took the Iraq War of 1990 to drawing rooms 'live'.  

Ted Turner is seen at his desk inside the CNN Center in 1982. Photograph: Nancy Mangiafico/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP (The Guardian)

But it wasn’t a passion for journalism that propelled Ted Turner to invest in the world’s first all-news cable channel. Media mogul Ted Turner, who pioneered the modern 24-hour news culture when he launched the CNN channel, has died at the age of 87, the network has announced.

In 1980, Turner launched Cable News Network as the first dedicated rolling news channel, which soon became a central part of the media landscape. US President Donald Trump paid tribute to him as "one of the greats of broadcast history, and a friend of mine". Current CNN CEO and chairman Mark Thompson described Turner as 

"the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognise him and his impact on our lives and the world".  

Duck-hunting and cigar-smoking with Fidel was Ted’s first indication that this all-news channel he’d mortgaged himself to launch just might unify the world and bring peace to the planet. Before CNN’s debut, even he was skeptical about the idea.

“I hate the news,” he’d say. “The news is boring.” His skeptical ad salesmen worried: “Will we have to blow buildings up to fill the time?”  

Then, Fidel Castro, avowed enemy of the United States, issues Ted a private invitation. He’s been pirating CNN’s signal down in Havana and, it turns out, he’s an OG fan.

“I just wanted to let you know that I think CNN is the most objective source of news,” read the missive, hand-delivered to Ted in his office in Atlanta by CNN’s lone field reporter at the time, Mike Boettcher, “and if you want to come down to Cuba …”. Ted’s businessman father raised him to revile communism. “The commies,” as Ed Turner called them, would invade the US and shoot anyone who had more than $50 on them. 

As a consequence, Ted never carries more than $49 in cash. A registered Republican, he’s fiercely patriotic. But he’s no dummy. A world leader has invited him, a burgeoning mogul, to visit. “Set it up,” he had commands Boettcher.  

Within a decade, that station had become the foundation of the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and its boss was one of the biggest media moguls in the US.

He was also known for his brash personality, which earned him the nicknames

-  "the Mouth of the South" and "Captain Outrageous".

He even lived in CNN's headquarters for a number of years, often walking around the newsroom in his bath robe, "eager to debate the day's news". 

Turner also owned sport properties including the Atlanta Braves baseball team, Atlanta Hawks basketball team and Atlanta Thrashers ice hockey team.

He also became a major philanthropist, donating $1bn to the United Nations and millions more to environmental causes, and promoted and invested in clean energy. 

It’s hard for even those of us who were alive back at CNN’s dawn to remember that time, when the universe wasn’t wired for 24/7 everything – a time when “breaking news” was actually that. We can thank Ted Turner for turning on the TV spigot. 

When he first bought Channel 17 in 1970, he was appalled, insomniac that he was, that the station went dark after the late-night movie. All stations did. As prosaic as that seems today, keeping the lights on was the first act of his genius.

Buying a faltering baseball team and beaming it around the country was the next. In doing that, he created “America’s Team”.  

But no one knew on 1 June 1980, when CNN began beaming into a little over a million homes, that the channel derided at first as “Chicken Noodle News” would someday make or break presidents. 

Sway public opinion about wars and revolutions. 

Rivet the world to its seats when the space shuttle exploded, and a little girl got trapped in a well. Rile entire generations of helpless couch potatoes into hand-wringing helplessness and anxiety.

Over time, we learned not just to turn on the news at any hour of the day but to expect it delivered to us, on the toilet or on the airplane, instantaneously. And with each drip, we became further entertained – and paralyzed.

That unifying sense of a plugged-in, always-on world ......  

The world of news and journalism changed. And more ... 

News itself would go from the straight, somber reporting of facts to become a weapon. It is said : 

Always driven by a ferocious competitive will to succeed and a faith in his own vision, Turner seemed happiest getting involved in the nuts and bolts of television production, often to the consternation of his employees.

Long-serving CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour said:

"Ted Turner created an unstoppable media revolution for the benefit of all humankind."

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