Saturday, December 17, 2005
Ted Turner Feels CNN is Still Good
Source: Indian Television Asked by a young guy on a chilly December Thursday evening what was the secret of making money and leading a good life, pat came the reply: “Early to bed, early to rise and work like hell. And, don’t forget to advertise (your product).”
That’s media visionary, philanthropist and statesman Ted Turner for you. In Delhi on his second only visit to India, Turner seems to be having fun as he divides time amongst various engagements over the last two days.
He hasn’t lost any of his trademark aggressiveness, nor his sense of humour. “I am slightly hard of hearing and didn’t hear him for most part,” he jokingly side-stepped when quizzed on some observations made by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen earlier in the evening at a lecture on `Democracy and Its Critics’, organized by an agency of United Nations here.
His humour intact, what he might have lost is a few billions of dollars (when the share price of the then AOL Time Warner headed south on various allegations leveled at the share markets in the US). But enriching the monetary loss is a sense of purpose that is being directed towards making this globe a better place to live in.
Though the sale of Turner Broadcasting (owners of CNN and Cartoon Network amongst a host of other media properties) to Time Warner in 1996 was termed by him as the "biggest mistake of my life," Ted still holds a candle for CNN.
Initially, he tried avoiding a direct reply to Indiantelevision.com, saying, “It’s not fair to ask me…I have been associated with it for so long; you judge,” but relented to add: “It’s (CNN) still so pretty good.”
The poser to him was: does he feel that CNN, which he had started and nurtured so lovingly in 1980s, still lives up to the ideals of its founder?
That’s media visionary, philanthropist and statesman Ted Turner for you. In Delhi on his second only visit to India, Turner seems to be having fun as he divides time amongst various engagements over the last two days.
He hasn’t lost any of his trademark aggressiveness, nor his sense of humour. “I am slightly hard of hearing and didn’t hear him for most part,” he jokingly side-stepped when quizzed on some observations made by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen earlier in the evening at a lecture on `Democracy and Its Critics’, organized by an agency of United Nations here.
His humour intact, what he might have lost is a few billions of dollars (when the share price of the then AOL Time Warner headed south on various allegations leveled at the share markets in the US). But enriching the monetary loss is a sense of purpose that is being directed towards making this globe a better place to live in.
Though the sale of Turner Broadcasting (owners of CNN and Cartoon Network amongst a host of other media properties) to Time Warner in 1996 was termed by him as the "biggest mistake of my life," Ted still holds a candle for CNN.
Initially, he tried avoiding a direct reply to Indiantelevision.com, saying, “It’s not fair to ask me…I have been associated with it for so long; you judge,” but relented to add: “It’s (CNN) still so pretty good.”
The poser to him was: does he feel that CNN, which he had started and nurtured so lovingly in 1980s, still lives up to the ideals of its founder?
# posted by ATN @ 7:17 PM 
