R. E. Ted Turner

R. E. "Ted" Turner

From the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) web pages:

"R. E. Turner, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, is Vice Chairman of AOL Time Warner and the founder of CNN, the world's first live, in-depth, round-the-clock news television network. Mr. Turner spent nearly 30 years building Turner Broadcasting System into one of the nation's largest media conglomerates. The company merged with Time Warner in 1996.

"Mr. Turner began his career as an account executive for Turner Advertising Company, later to become Turner Broadcasting System. He bought his first television station in 1970 and later purchased Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves. Mr. Turner pioneered the 'superstation' concept, transmitting a station's signal to cable systems nationwide via satellite.

"He founded the cable channels TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies (TCM), a 24-hour commercial-free network. He expanded Turner Broadcasting's news division with the creation of CNNRadio, CNN Airport Network and a 24-hour sports network.

"A philanthropist and supporter of a number of humanitarian causes, Mr. Turner founded the United Nations Foundation with a $1 billion grant over 10 years and the Goodwill Games, an international, world-class, quadrennial, multi-sport competition. Mr. Turner is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, industry awards and civic honors, including being named Time magazine's 1991 Man of the Year and Cable and Broadcasting's Man of the Century in 1999."

"In 1985 he founded the Better World Society, which petered out late last fall [1991] but until then was meant to educate people about pollution, hunger and the arms race by producing documentaries." Further information.

Affiliations

 * Founder (1997), Turner Endangered Species Fund
 * Co-founder, Carter Center
 * Co-founder, Better World Society
 * Chair, Turner Foundation
 * Co-chair, State of the World Forum
 * Advisory Council, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
 * Director, Environmental Media Association
 * Director, United Nations Association of the United States of America
 * Public Advisory Committee, Population Institute
 * Leadership Council, Initiative for Global Development
 * Honorary Board, Green Cross International
 * Member, Ocean Elders
 * Winner of a 2001 Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy
 * Winner of the 1991 Audubon Medal
 * Winner (2004), Margaret Sanger Award
 * Winner of the 2008 Lindbergh Award
 * Honoree of the 2006 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award
 * Global Advisory Committee, Earth Day Network

His daughter is Laura Turner Seydel.

Criticism

 * Joshua Frank, "The Privatization of Wildlife: How Ted Turner Scored Yellowstone's Bison", Counterpunch, April 13, 2010.

Tobacco documents information on Turner
A 1990 Tobacco Institute memo shows that the public affairs firm Ogilvy Mather proposed Ted Turner as a possible "celebrity spokesperson" who might be willing to speak publicly on tobacco issues on behalf of the Tobacco Institute. A memo sent from Ogilvy Mather to Susan Stuntz of the Institute said (of Turner),


 * He seeks publicity and is a defender of freedom of speech...He may be too high profile and difficult to control (since money is probably not a concern).

In 1999, Turner's network told the Lorillard Tobacco Co. to strengthen their youth smoking prevention ads if they wanted them shown on the network. Lorillard's slogan for the ads was "Tobacco is Whacko if you're a teen." Turner ad reps insisted Lorillard strengthen it by adding, at least, "Don't smoke." Lorillard refused.