/News

Ted Turner died peacefully on Wednesday, surrounded by his family, at 87. And it's hard to overstate what this man actually built. He launched the Cable News Network, the nation's first continuous all-news television station, on June 1, 1980, at a converted Jewish country club in Atlanta. Everyone thought he was insane. The idea of news running 24 hours a day, with no end, no prime time, no "that's all for tonight" simply didn't exist. Turner once told Oprah Winfrey: "If Alexander the Great could conquer the known world, why couldn't I start CNN?" That pretty much sums up the man. He turned the Turner Broadcasting System into a behemoth, establishing the "superstation" concept and launching channels such as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies. He owned the Atlanta Braves. He created a bison burger restaurant chain. He gave a billion dollars to the United Nations. He co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initiative. He created Captain Planet to teach kids about the environment. His nickname was "Captain Outrageous," partly because he once said "I don't have any idea what I'm going to say. I say what comes to my mind." What's worth remembering is that Turner didn't just build a network. He changed the entire logic of how the world consumes information. CNN helped to fundamentally change the format and speed of TV news, laying the path for competitors such as Fox News and MSNBC. The always-on news cycle we live in today, for better or worse, is largely his invention. Just before his 80th birthday, Turner announced he had Lewy Body Dementia, a degenerative disease that causes dementia and muscle failure. He faced that the same way he faced everything else: publicly, without flinching. CNN chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a statement: "He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN." Rest well, Captain Outrageous. The news never stopped. Just like you wanted.