Ted Turner prepares to deliver remarks at the National Press Club October 9, 2006 in Washington, DC. A leader in business, entertainment and sports, Turner talked about his efforts at the United Nations, his philanthropy, the current state of journalism and his perspective on the nuclear test that North Korea says it completed. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Media mogul and Atlanta businessman Ted Turner, who is credited with creating 24-hour TV news when he founded CNN more than four decades ago, died Wednesday at the age of 87.
Turner, who was born in Ohio but grew up in Savannah, built a media empire that shaped American culture and cultivated an outspoken persona that earned him the nickname “The Mouth of the South.”
But he devoted the latter part of his life to conservation and philanthropic efforts, preserving more than two million acres of land, according to Turner Enterprises, which announced his death Wednesday.
Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, said in a statement that “even those who at times strongly disagreed” with Turner still respected him.
“Ted Turner led a life as big as the American Dream he lived,” Kemp said. “Through his varied contributions to the world of business and civic leadership, he helped drive Atlanta, our state and the nation to new achievements.
“His media empire reimagined the American news cycle and broadcast TV as we know it, ultimately making his beloved Atlanta Braves “America’s Team” for decades,” Kemp added, referring to Turner’s time as owner of the Atlanta Braves baseball team.
Todd Groce, president and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society, said Turner’s death represents the end of an era.
“Ted Turner‘s shadow looms large over the 20th and 21st centuries, not only in Georgia but across the globe,” Groce said. “Historians will be writing about Ted Turner, his impact, and the revolution he wrought in television news and sports broadcasting for generations to come.”
In 2018, the historical society erected a marker in downtown Atlanta to recognize what Turner accomplished when he launched CNN, the Cable News Network, in 1980 as the world’s first 24-hour all news network.
His expansive media portfolio included Headline News, CNN International and non-news cable channels like Turner Network Television, Turner Classic Movies and the Cartoon Network. He sold his networks to Time Warner in 1996.
Turner’s impact made him TIME Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1991 for “turning viewers in 150 countries into instant witnesses of history.” President George H.W. Bush was widely quoted as saying this during the Gulf War: “I learn more from CNN than I do from the CIA.”
Turner revealed in 2018 that he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, which is a progressive brain disorder.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat who is running for governor, said in a statement that she recalled watching wrestling matches, roller derby and classic sitcoms after school on Channel 17, which Turner would build into cable TV’s first superstation. She said she visited the Turner Broadcasting Techwood campus to watch her father, Major Lance, appear on James Brown’s TV show.
“From creating CNN, his environmental leadership, to owning the Hawks, Flames, and even managing the Braves, Ted Turner always did things his own way, and Atlanta and the world are better for it,” Bottoms said.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
