Ted Turner, the media pioneer who transformed television news by launching the world’s first 24-hour cable news network, died Wednesday, May 6, at the age of 87.
Through the creation of CNN in 1980, Turner reshaped how audiences consumed breaking news and helped establish continuous global coverage as a defining feature of modern journalism. Turner won the OPC’s Presidents award in 2012. He ended his acceptance speech declaring,
“What I want to say, of all the things that I’ve done in my life, and I’ve won the World Series and I’ve won the America’s Cup and I’ve been Sportsman of the Year and Yachtsman of the Year and Philanthropist of the Year: the thing I’ve loved most and still love most is journalism.”
Born Robert Edward Turner III on Nov. 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Turner built a media empire from his family’s billboard business before turning his ambitions toward broadcasting.
OPC member Beth Knobel was prominently featured in the Associated Press article examining Turner’s lasting impact on journalism and the global news industry. In the piece, Knobel reflected on CNN’s groundbreaking coverage of major world events, Turner’s early understanding of news as a global enterprise and the network’s influence on how audiences and governments around the world consumed breaking news. Drawing on her experience competing against CNN while reporting for CBS News in Moscow during the early 1990s, Knobel described Turner as one of television journalism’s most transformative innovators.
“We use the word giant sometimes to describe people that really aren’t giant,” Knobel said. “Ted Turner truly is a giant. He invented around-the-clock news.”
Read AP’s “Ted Turner’s vision of news as global and continuous changed both the industry and society itself,” to learn more.
June 7, 2026