Ted Turner, Cable TV news revolutionary and CNN founder, dead at 87

Ted Turner, the visionary founder of CNN whose bold idea of round-the-clock news broadcasting permanently transformed global media, has died at 87.

Ted Turner, the audacious media pioneer who founded CNN and forever changed how the world consumes news, died Wednesday at the age of 87, according to Turner Enterprises.

The Ohio-born Atlanta businessman built a sprawling media empire encompassing cable’s first superstation, the Atlanta Braves, and channels for movies and cartoons. In 1991, Time magazine named him Man of the Year for turning “viewers in 150 countries into instant witnesses of history.”

CNN Chairman Mark Thompson remembered Turner as “intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch,” calling him “the giant on whose shoulders we stand.” Turner, who had lived with Lewy body dementia since 2018, is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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