Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

CNN Founder, Media and Philanthropic Pioneer Ted Turner Has Died. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 06, 2026 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Go ahead, I was going to get to that, Tom, the other qualities he had beyond his successes. Go ahead.

TOM JOHNSON, FORMER PRESIDENT, CNN: Yes. Well, I mean, when I think about Ted, I mean, yes, I think about our coverage of the fall of the Soviet Union, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Balkan Wars, the impeachment of President Clinton, the Waco siege, the death of Princess Diana.

But beyond that, I think about, you know, in his life, he won the America's Cup, renowned sailing race. He bought the Atlanta Braves and transformed them from one of baseball's worst teams into one of his best. But beyond that, I mean, he donated a billion dollars to create the United Nations Foundation so he could fund humanitarian causes such as helping refugees, fighting disease, and clearing landmines.

He and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn created an organization called the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which exists very much today to reduce the dangers of nuclear weapons. He was such a wonderful, wonderful steward of the land. I mean, he acquired and worked to restore over two million acres. He cleaned up the streams. He removed the cattle. He reintroduced the bison. And today he has, I believe, 45,000 head of bison. But even, you know, he brought back the gray wolves. And on his land, you can go and see how our nation was at the time the Native Americans roamed there.

So, I mean, just an incredible caring about the world in which we live, and particularly along with Jane Fonda. I mean, he cared a great deal and did what he could on world peace. He so wanted CNN to serve as a way in which people could communicate, and not only in English, but CNN moved into other languages beginning after English with Spanish. But just an extraordinary human being that cared deeply about each other.

And I will never forget seeing Ted walking down the streets of Atlanta. I was with him. And he would stop and pick up trash and hold it in his arm until he got to the next trash can. And I asked, what other billionaire in the world would be picking up trash on the streets and putting in that trash can? That was Ted Turner.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, he was just such an amazing, powerful, wonderful human being, everything he did. And especially when he took me on a tour of his Montana ranch. We saw the bison. We saw all that land out there. He was so proud of the creativity, the environmental strength that he was bringing to that whole area. And it just inspired me to really appreciate what he was doing.

I want to bring in our chief media analyst, Brian Stelter, right now. Brian, talk a little bit about the way Ted Turner transformed our news and media environment.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Goodness gracious, Wolf. No one who ever had the chance to meet Ted Turner ever forgot about the meeting. His energy, his swagger, his drive, his focus, those skills, that's what helped him change this world. He democratized news, also democratized access to the news in all the ways that you all have been discussing.

And right now, so many hundreds of people, so many people watching right now, so many CNN employees, past and present, so many alums, they all know they owe their careers and their livelihoods to Ted. That's true even at CNN's rivals, because he did create this entire concept of the 24-hour news channel.

And I know people are watching right now, CNN alums watching with sorrow in their hearts, but with gratitude to Ted for all that he gave to this world. We've heard just now from CNN CEO and chairman Mark Thompson reflecting on this moment. He says, Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless, and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment. 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.

Thinking personally for a moment, Ted has survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. And, Wolf, as you mentioned in your obit, he lived with Lewy body dementia for almost a decade. He was even on Zoom, on Skype, talking with friends just a couple of weeks ago. But in recent days, I'm told he did transition to hospice care, and so many members of his family gathered by his bedside to be with Ted in his final days. 87 years old, an extraordinary life.

[10:35:00]

And there's so much we can learn from him even today. You know, of all of the accomplishments in Ted's life, the yachts, the philanthropy, the environmentalism, the land, the millions of acres of land, CNN was what he cherished the most. CNN was always his greatest achievement. He cared deeply about the network, even after it went out of his possession. He even talked about a decade ago about an idea trying to take over CNN, trying to buy it back. He was reportedly concerned about Trump interference during Trump's first term.

Thankfully, there was none of that interference, but he was concerned about CNN even then, and he always expressed a deep, heartfelt desire to see the network grow and be stronger all around the world. I was just looking at one of Ted's books, "Call Me Ted." He has a brilliant quote in this about why CNN was successful. He said, we put journalism first, and that's how we built CNN into something the world wanted to watch. BLITZER: You know, he was such a great journalist, and he was so fair, so responsible. One of the first things he said to me when he hired me, Brian, and I'll never forget it, and it's a simple thing that all journalists should do. He said, if you're going to report something negative about somebody, make sure you give that person a chance to respond in advance, before you put it on the air, before you report it. Let's hear what that person has to say, and then you can report whatever you want, and you can mention what this individual is saying in reaction.

He was just always determined to be fair and responsible. It's a basic element of serious journalism, but one of the first things he told me when he hired me, always give that individual, if you're going to report something negative about that person, a chance to respond in advance, and make sure you put that on the air with whatever else you're going to be reporting. It was just a unique moment that I'll never forget.

STELTER: To hear you share that, Wolf, I think that's really telling, because he did not come from a journalism background, right? He came in as a businessman, as a maverick. He was in the billboard business. He always cared about getting attention. He was so theatrical. He knew how to put on a show. He built up his entertainment channels.

You know, he even created the -- wasn't it the "Captain America," the -- you know, the cartoon? He created that character. But when it came to journalism, he saw it opening in the marketplace, and he understood the fundamentals of news. He hired the right people, put them in the right places.

But, Wolf, what you're describing is that deep understanding of the core tenets of journalism that he was able to support, and essentially finance, and provide a ground floor, a foundation for CNN. It was not easy in the early years, 1981, 1982. I'm working on a piece right now for cnn.com about just how hard it was to actually launch this channel when so many people doubted it was possible, when there were simply evening newscasts at 6:30 p.m., and that was really the only option on television. The deck was stacked so enormously against Ted Turner, and that's what made the achievement all the more incredible.

BROWN: I think that context is so important. He just had a will to succeed. He had a vision, and he believed in his vision because he thought it would be good for the world. And he delivered, and he has had this tremendous impact all over the world for so many decades. And you talk about, Brian and Wolf, that he really understood the fundamentals of journalism, and that he put the right people in the right places.

And, Wolf, I just want you to tell us a little bit more about your backstory of being hired, because at the time, you were a reporter at the Jerusalem Post, right? I mean, you were not front and center on people's televisions. You had written a book, but he spotted you. He had an eye for talent, and he spotted you. Tell us more about that and how you landed at the Pentagon, without really having what you thought at the time, maybe all the credentials that you thought someone might need for that role. BLITZER: During my earlier years as a journalist, I was invited a few times to be a guest on CNN, because I was breaking stories in the Jerusalem Post, and they noticed that, and Ted Turner noticed that, he told me personally, and he said, we wanted you to come on. And then I came on as an analyst and a reporter, and I wasn't hired by CNN at the time, just coming on as a guest.

And they liked me, and all of a sudden, at one point, Ted Turner said to me, we have an opening. We want you to be our Pentagon correspondent. And I said, Pentagon correspondent? I said, I'm not really an expert on the Pentagon or the military, but he said, you're a great journalist. You're breaking stories. You can go to the Pentagon. You can go to Toledo. You can go to Timbuktu. You'll break news. That's what we want at CNN. We want you to go to the Pentagon and break news. That was my first day at the Pentagon, May 8, 1990.

And I thought it was going to be a relatively slow beat, because the Cold War was winding down. The U.S. was closing a lot of military bases all over the country. I thought it would be a slow beat, but a few months later, Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait, Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm, and then everybody on Earth is watching CNN and watching me report from the Pentagon, military affairs correspondent.

[10:40:00]

And it was just -- it changed my life, obviously. It changed CNN's life. And it was just a very proud moment in the history of journalism, especially for me, watching all of this unfold. And it was just a really great moment indeed, and I'll never forget that.

BROWN: And, Brian, you know, I think that says a lot, right, that he was this visionary with starting CNN and all of these other companies as well that we've been talking about. But that, you know, he was willing to take risks, and those risks paid off.

STELTER: There's an element of Elon Musk to his story. There's an element of Jeff Bezos to this story. The billionaires that we hear about today and the way that they are building the systems of the future, that's who Ted Turner was decades ago and for many decades throughout his career. You know, he figured out ways to take small local stations that were over the airwaves and turn them into national networks, CNN being one of those.

But let's go back to '79 and 1980 for a moment. Banks laughed at him. Potential partners rejected him. Newspaper owners mocked the idea of CNN. But he persevered and he won because of those risks, Pamela. It's really an amazing story. You know, he had to fight over satellite access. He struggled to recruit staff. He really risked his personal wealth to launch this channel with barely any runway to keep it going. He later said in one of his books, he stayed just one step ahead of the bankers.

And at first, CNN, as you all were talking about, was U.S. oriented. He dedicated the channel to America at launch. But then with the launch of CNN International, he was able to connect the entire world. I remember about 18 months into CNN, Ted learned that Fidel Castro was a loyal CNN viewer using a smuggled satellite dish in Cuba. And that was one of the moments where Ted thought this can be bigger than just America. This can connect the world. So, he started to cut those international distribution deals.

And now, let's flash forward here to 2026. CNN has changed hands many times. The brand has expanded in many ways. And through it all, this place has endured. And that's a testament to Ted as well. On this day of all days, we should say he created something that outlasted him. That's his immortality. It is his legacy. And for the thousands of people who work here, as we face another merger now set to be taken over by Paramount in the coming months, it's our obligation to carry that forward. That's what Ted always wanted.

He always worried about CNN, even in his octogenarian years. He always watched. He still gave feedback. And I loved him for that. That is something -- you know, you couldn't take that love of the game, of the news, of the world out of Ted. And there's a lot we can learn from him today as we reflect on his legacy.

BROWN: It was certainly the crown jewel in all of his accomplishments. And I love just hearing the backstory, Brian, from you of banks laughing at him, people saying, you can't do this. And him just saying, well, yes, I will. And he did. And I remember when I was first hired at CNN more than 13 years ago, I told my colleagues where I was working at the time, they said, wow, you are going to work for the most iconic news brand in the world. And I think about that all the time. And that is all because of Ted Turner.

So, to continue honoring his legacy, I want to bring in former CNN anchor and Washington Bureau Chief Frank Sesno. Frank, how are you remembering Ted right now in this moment?

FRANK SESNO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE AND FORMER CNN ANCHOR: In many, many ways. As we've heard from Brian and Tom Johnson and others, Ted was a visionary. He was audacious. He didn't take no for an answer. He was called the mouth of the South once upon a time. And he had this idea to create CNN, a 24-hour news network before America was cabled.

Now, I'm at George Washington University now. I work with young people and students all the time. They don't remember. They don't know who Ted was. And so, I remind them there was a time when there was no cable television in America. And when Ted came up with this idea, he was laughed at. People will never pay for television. They won't pay for news. There's not a market for this. And he barged on anyway.

At GW, we have now created an endowment. We have the Ted Turner Professor of Environmental Media. A lot of people contributed to this, including CNN, with the idea that we would continue Ted's legacy and teach future generations of storytellers committed to creative, bold, audacious storytelling, which is what Ted was all about.

But what Ted did and what he created, it's hard to describe to somebody what it was like being in the room with him. When I was bureau chief, I remember a bureau chief's meeting. We all came to Atlanta. We sat around this big table. And Ted was always Ted. And he said, I want to have a bureau in every capital in every country in the world.

[10:45:00]

And that's what we believe, that if we covered the world, if we increased people's understanding of one another and other places, that the world would be more informed and a better place because of it.

When I was at the White House in the early days, they didn't even -- when -- I remember calling the lower press office, and Wolf will laugh at this because he was a correspondent there too, but I would call and say, hi, it's Frank Sesno from CNN. And there was silence. Like they did not know in the early days what CNN even was. And I remember one day where I said, oh, it's Ted Turner's news network. And then they knew.

So, Ted's name and Ted's reputation preceded CNN and through the force of will and imagination. And yes, there was no money for CNN in those early days when he was starting it up. He created this incredible global brand that stands for everything that Wolf and others have talked to you about, news and information and people first.

BROWN: Yes. Fairness and accuracy, as you heard Tom lay out in his conversation with him and the news comes first. And he really lived by that and instilled that in those who worked for him, including our colleague, Wolf Blitzer. He also was an environmental philanthropist, and I would love to hear more about his work in that area, Frank.

SESNO: Yes. Ted believed passionately in the cause of the planet. He created "Captain Planet" on -- you know, he -- Ted had several other channels, not just CNN, TMT, TNT, TVS, the Cartoon Network. All these channels were part of Turner Broadcasting and Ted created. And he created a show that actually, if you talk to a lot of millennials today, they grew up on the show "Captain Planet." It was one of the first -- it was a cartoon, it was an environmental cartoon that showed a very diverse group of people, heroes for the planet. Ted's daughter, Laura Turner Seydel is chair of the Captain Planet Foundation. It continues its work.

I've had the opportunity to take students out to Ted's ranches, reserves they're now called, where they learn and they do stories from their ranch. So, we've been to the one in Nebraska and also to the Vermejo Reserve, which is in New Mexico.

Now, Ted was, once upon a time, the largest single private landholder in America. He had all these properties, two million acres or so. I think he's now the second largest. But what happens on these places shows Ted's commitment to the planet. There is research on regenerative agriculture, on the forests, on the grasslands. You've heard that he's helped revive the bison herd. I mean, this was all Ted's thing.

And I will tell you, it's very interesting when I think about all that we did at CNN, that I did at CNN, that we've all done and that CNN does. It's big. I mean, it's huge. But when I stood, and you can see in that picture there, he's on one of his reserves there with Christiane and the bison behind him. When you stand on that property and you realize, oh my gosh, what has this human being done? What's he pulled together on behalf of conservation and all the rest? It's breathtaking.

And so, his commitment was complete. We did a lot of reporting on the planet. Ted didn't dictate ever the stories we did or what was in them, but he helped shape the focus or the subject area. And so, a lot of the environmental reporting was because of Ted's belief in the planet.

BROWN: Yes. And just on the more personal level on this statement from the family, it says he was also a man known for his no holds bar delivery, endearing sense of humor and undying loyalty to those around him. He charmed people he met with his warmth and general lack of conceit. Despite his many successes in celebrity, an attribute made apparent in his response to anyone who addressed him as Mr. Turner. He'd always reply, call me Ted. Frank, thank you so much for coming.

SESNO: Call me Ted.

BROWN: Call me Ted. Exactly. Thank you so much for coming on to talk about Ted Turner. As we have learned, he has passed away at the age of 87. We're going to take a quick break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BROWN: CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, just released this statement, writing in part, one of the moments I reflect on most often was meeting with Ted in Washington, D.C. following the close of the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger in April 2022. We talked about the opportunities and challenges ahead, the responsibility that comes with stewarding these extraordinary brands and the need to keep innovating in a constantly changing world. I think about that conversation often.

Ted's influence is woven throughout Warner Brothers Discovery. The brands he built and championed remain central to who we are, and they continue to reflect his belief in creative risk, cultural impact, and global reach. Through CNN, TCM, Turner Sports, and across our portfolio, his vision remains present in the work our teams do every day.

Beyond media, Ted was a committed philanthropist who believed success should serve a broader purpose. He cared about journalism, culture, the environment, and future generations, and he acted on those values throughout his life. On behalf of our entire company, we extend our deepest condolences to Ted's family and to the many colleagues and partners whose lives and careers were shaped by his vision.

[10:55:00] It is our responsibility to honor and carry forward the legacy he built. Ted Turner changed our industry forever. I am grateful for his courage, his imagination, and the lasting mark he leaves on Warner Bros Discovery and the world.

And I know I'm speaking for you too, Wolf, when I say, but we will continue to carry forward the legacy he built. I am grateful for his courage, his imagination, his legacy, and all of the values he instilled here at CNN that just endures and will endure, Wolf.

BLITZER: Forever, indeed. He was such a powerful, wonderful impact on all of us. I want to bring in the former CNN chairman and CEO, Walter Isaacson, right now. He's joining us on the phone. Give us a sense, Walter, what's going through your mind as we just learned in the last hour or so about the death of Ted Turner?

WALTER ISAACSON, FORMER CNN CHAIRMAN AND CEO: Thank you, Wolf. You know, I've studied innovators my whole life, but one of the greatest of all innovators was Ted, and it was partly because he was fearless.

You know, he would try any new idea. He led us into the era of new forms of communication. But when it came to covering things, he knew CNN was built to be a fearless network. And I can remember, as you can, Wolf, on 9/11, when he came down into the newsroom, I went upstairs at CNN Center in Atlanta and got him out of his office, and he said, this is why we built this network. And he gave one of the most inspiring rallying cries I've heard. And, you know, we just need his type today, people who don't fear power but want to cover it.

BLITZER: You know, there were so many moments when he dramatically inspired me as a journalist working for him, working for CNN. And I'll just share one of those moments and get your thoughts. Back in 2010, I was invited with Bill Richardson, the then-governor of New Mexico, to go to North Korea, to Pyongyang, to try to bring some Americans home. And I went on that trip. I had never been to North Korea before.

So, here I am in Pyongyang. I'm staying in this little villa that the government there put us up in. And I have a TV in that room. I turn on the TV, and it's North Korean state television. Of course, I don't understand Korean, so I don't know what they're saying. But I'm flipping channels. And the only other channel that was on that TV in Pyongyang was CNN. And I'm watching CNN in North Korea.

And I'm saying to myself, how did this happen? How did North Korea get to show CNN on this TV? And then, later, I'm in the lobby, and I ask one of the people in the lobby -- CNN was on the TV. He takes me outside. There's a little area, and there's a satellite dish there. And he says to me, this is the satellite dish that Ted Turner, a year earlier, brought to Pyongyang. And we put it up here. He asked us to show CNN to the people in North Korea. It was very important to try to emerge a more peaceful world.

And all of a sudden, North Korea, you could see CNN on the TV there because of that satellite dish that Ted Turner had brought to North Korea. And there it was, right in the middle of this area, outside this villa where we were all staying. And it was just a powerful moment to me to see how Ted Turner would often think about world peace, even with a country like North Korea. And people would be watching CNN in North Korea, and he was suggesting that maybe the world would be a more peaceful place if people all over the world would be watching the same news.

And it just inspired me, as someone who had been working at CNN, the way he was so committed to world peace, to showing the people of the world news, educating the people of the world about what's going on fairly and accurately. And it just was a powerful moment for me. And I'm sure there were powerful moments like that with you in your connection with Ted.

ISAACSON: You know, once I was in Bratislava in 1989 as revolutions were happening eastern Europe. And I was in a hotel where they put foreigners. And one of the cleaning lady said to me, the students like to come use the rooms in the afternoon because it's the only place where they can get outside television and they like watching the music videos. And I said, fine, they can use my room.

When I got back that afternoon, they weren't watching the music videos, they were watching what was happening at the Gdansk Shipyard with Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement in '89 because CNN was carrying it. And I said, OK, these revolutions are going to spread, because even governments had tried to censor the news are not going to be able to block it. That was the type of vision that when we were at Time Magazine, we made him Person of the Year, because that vision of what CNN could be wasn't just about television, it was about international --

[11:00:00]