Almost forty-six years ago, CNN (Cable News Network) was founded by Ted Turner and launched on June 1, 1980, as the world's first 24-hour all-news television channel. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it revolutionized news broadcasting by offering continuous coverage, starting with around 1.7MM subscribers and growing into a global media staple.
And for years, the voice of CNN was legendary actor, James Earl Jones. He brought an unmistakeable sense of assuredness, with his deep, calm baritone voice as he announced, “This is CNN”, as the logo filled your TV screens.
Turner’s life work included founding Turner Broadcasting System, which housed cable channels TNT, TBS and Cartoon Network, as well as Turner Classic Movies. He also formerly owned the Atlanta Braves and other sports enterprises.
He was known for his brash, outspoken personality and thin mustache; also was a philanthropist, founding the United Nations Foundation; a bison rancher and conservationist; a yacht collector; and a political activist.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement. He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN,” Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement Wednesday.
“Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
Turner’s network proved itself during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, when it was the sole US network to broadcast a live, unedited feed from Baghdad as bombs illuminated the sky.
Its live coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Chinese student protests in Tiananmen Square and the space shuttle Challenger explosion further solidified it as a dominant source of world news for Americans.
When Turner sold it in 1996, CNN began a long trek down to wokeness, ultimately becoming as disrespected as MS NOW and other left-leaning media enterprises. Even though the sale of CNN and other properties netted a $7.37BB windfall to him, he later said it was a regret and the “worst day of my life .”
He had revealed just before his 80th birthday that he had Lewy Body Dementia, a neurological disorder that causes dementia and muscle failure, and was reportedly in a rehab center in early 2025 after a bout of pneumonia.
But, obviously, it finally got to him. He was 87.
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