Ted Turner, the blunt-talking media pioneer who founded CNN and helped remake the way Americans watched the news, died Wednesday, according to a news release from Turner Enterprises. He was 87.
Turner built CNN into the first 24-hour cable news network, a risky bet that eventually changed television journalism and pushed rivals to follow his around-the-clock model. The Ohio-born businessman, long based in Atlanta, was known for his swagger, his impatience with convention and his nickname, “The Mouth of the South.”
Before CNN, Turner helped usher in the modern cable era with cable’s first superstation and later expanded into movie and cartoon programming, all while collecting major sports properties, including the Atlanta Braves. He also made a mark outside media as a competitive yachtsman and a high-profile philanthropist.
Ted Turner
Turner founded the United Nations Foundation and became an outspoken activist on global issues, including nuclear disarmament. He was also a conservationist who grew into one of the largest private landowners in the United States, and he played a role in reintroducing bison to the American West. He even created the Captain Planet cartoon to promote environmental awareness among children.
Still, Turner’s signature legacy was CNN, the channel he launched with a simple but audacious goal: deliver live news from anywhere in the world, at any hour, without waiting for the next morning’s paper or the next evening’s broadcast.
That approach, mocked early on by critics who doubted viewers would watch news all day, became central during major moments when events moved too fast for traditional schedules. Turner’s network later positioned viewers as real-time witnesses during wars, political upheaval and breaking disasters, helping shape expectations for instant coverage.
In 1991, Time magazine named Turner its Man of the Year for “influencing the dynamic of events and turning viewers in 150 countries into instant witnesses of history.”
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Turner eventually sold his networks to Time Warner and later stepped away from day-to-day media work. Even after exiting the business, he continued to speak proudly of CNN, calling it the “greatest achievement” of his life.
CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson praised Turner’s impact in a statement Wednesday.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Thompson said. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. 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 disclosed in 2018 that he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder, just over a month before his 80th birthday. In early 2025, Turner was hospitalized with a mild case of pneumonia before recovering at a rehabilitation facility.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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