News Broadcasting
CNN founder Ted Turner, pioneer of 24-hour news, dies at 87
Media mogul who created 24-hour news and reshaped global television leaves a towering legacy
FLORIDA: The man who taught television to never sleep is gone. Ted Turner, the media mogul who founded CNN and rewired the global news cycle, has died at 87. His death was confirmed by his family and reported by CNN, citing a release from Turner Enterprises.
Turner did not just launch a channel. He detonated a format. With CNN, he turned rolling news into a global habit, making viewers in 150 countries instant witnesses to history and forcing broadcasters everywhere to keep up.
Mark Thompson, chairman and ceo, CNN Worldwide, paid tribute to the network’s founder. “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” he 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’s ambitions ranged far beyond television. A prolific philanthropist, he founded the United Nations Foundation in 1998 and pledged a record $1bn to the UN. According to the foundation, “Ted’s goals in establishing the Foundation were to demonstrate the value of investing in the UN, encourage new partners to work with the UN, and promote strong US leadership at the UN.”
He also founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a non-profit advocacy organisation that describes itself as “a global security organization working to reduce threats from nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats imperiling humanity”.
Recognition followed scale. In 1991, Time named Turner its Man of the Year for “influencing the dynamic of events and turning viewers in 150 countries into instant witnesses of history”.
In the 1990s, Turner sold Turner Broadcasting System, which included CNN, to Time Warner Inc, cementing one of the era’s defining media deals.
His later years were marked by illness. In 2018, he disclosed a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder. He was briefly hospitalised in 2025 with a mild case of pneumonia.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
He leaves behind a simple, disruptive idea that became an industry standard. News, he proved, does not wait.
