US broadcast news pioneer Ted Turner has died at 87, the cable channel he founded announced on Wednesday. Turner launched CNN in 1980 and introduced a 24-hour breaking news format that transformed television news in the United States and around the world.
An Ohio native who built his media empire in Atlanta, Turner later sold CNN to Time Warner and became a prominent business leader and philanthropist. His investments included sports teams, and he supported habitat restoration across the American mountain West. He also gave $1 billion (roughly €850 million) to United Nations charities.
No cause of death was provided. Turner had been living with Lewy body dementia, a lesser-known neurodegenerative disease, since 2018.
President Donald Trump paid tribute on his Truth Social platform, calling Turner one of the “greats” of broadcast history and describing him as a friend who was ready to support good causes.
Born in Cincinnati as Robert Edward ‘Ted’ Turner III, he did not complete his studies at Brown University, having been expelled before graduation. After his father died by suicide amid financial troubles, Turner took over the family advertising business and began buying radio stations. In 1970 he acquired a struggling television station in Atlanta, his first major move into TV.
Frustrated by the limited timing of evening newscasts, Turner created CNN to provide continuous coverage. He later said he had to move fast and be bold to do what the established networks had not imagined.
CNN’s live coverage of the 1991 Gulf War proved a defining moment for the network and for television news. While many journalists left Baghdad ahead of the US attack, CNN remained and broadcast live images of the war’s opening moments — from anti-aircraft tracers to correspondents reacting to blast concussions — in what was widely seen as the first live televised coverage of a war’s start.
The success of CNN spurred the launch of other 24-hour news channels, including Fox News and MSNBC, and inspired similar networks around the globe. Turner’s television holdings expanded to include TBS and TNT for sports and entertainment, Turner Classic Movies, and Cartoon Network, among others.
Edited by: Rana Taha