Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
By Chido Nwangwu. Follow on X @Chido247
Prior to bringing CNN to reality, thousands of his critics told him that he could not successfully run an all-news 24-hour network when he launched in 1980. Turner, fondly called ‘Captain America,’ refused to be distracted by the naysayers. He refused to be discouraged by those critics who were dismissed in an alliterative phrase used a few years earlier by the former Vice President of the United States, Spiro Agnew, in 1970. They were characterized as “nattering nabobs of negativism.”
Turner democratized and expanded news content and access to millions of people, worldwide. Like the very irreverent and visionary business giant he became, Turner focused on getting CNN to be seen around the world, at the same time. He changed the world! Mr. Turner brought the immediacy of delivery of the latest news events with video also known as, ‘breaking news’ to the highest number of individuals across the world.
His network, initially, made it possible to broadcast news packages, the same images and videos from Atlanta to the world. Or from the reporters’ location to the world, Live! Essentially, the Turner strategic plan did not have to keep you waiting for the appointed 6 pm hour in your country or location. Consequently, from Aba to Auckland, from Jerusalem to Jakarta, from the Sahel to Switzerland, the news content was the same. It had its own disadvantages.
Only a few years after its founding, CNN became the gold standard of global news. When you say that you had seen a news report on CNN, it was taken as a reliable factual news event! Along the way, the broadcast network became a threatening platform to the dictators and crooked politicians who did not want the world to know about the brutal atrocities of their own so-called “democratic” institutions and the criminal cultivation of squads for intimidation and human rights violations. The faces of the oppressor and the oppressed were on CNN, almost continuously! It placed their names to their faces!!
The hide-and-seek games of the dictators and their walls of dictatorial excesses began to collapse. In almost all cases, the walls were being knocked down by the pressure of “people power!” On several issues and events, regardless of whatever you think of the ideological positioning or tilt of CNN, it has stood and walked some moral lines of courage, reporting live evidence of the capacity of the people to stand up to the assorted gangs of dictators and anti-democracy bullies of the world, were made even more vivid.
I recall a feeble but courageous Chinese man who stood in front of an armored personnel carrier and tanks, who dared the Chinese soldiers to run over him…. As the world had its eyes focused on Tiananmen Square in China, most of what the world witnessed were seen on CNN.
The fact remains that the global network power of the CNN, especially its pioneer, foundational, diverse cast of anchors, reporters and commentators such as Bernard Shaw, Bobi Batista, Wolf Blitzer, Christiane Amanpour, Frank Sesno, Peter Arnett, Catherine Crier, and many other recent ones such as Anderson Cooper contributed to the brand development. I make, also, a special mention of the GPS host Fareed Zakaria.
On May 6, 2026, Ted Turner’s family announced that had passed away, peacefully, at the age of 87..
Mark Thompson, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, issued an excellent statement, noting that: “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement”, adding that “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.”
There’s another appropriately captured tribute by Jason Carter, a grandson of U.S. former President Jimmy Carter:“Ted Turner was larger than life: a visionary in the media world, a pioneer in philanthropy, an Atlanta legend, and a devoted friend of my grandfather, President Jimmy Carter. He led one of the most remarkable lives in American history: from growing up in Georgia to the America’s Cup to the Superstation to creating CNN.”
Permit me to note that I have been a part of the inclusive, transformative vision of Mr. Turner for CNN where I have appeared several times as an analyst on United States and Africa issues, African cultural matters, business investments, trade and international security — since the 1990s.
I believe that any serious history of the 21st century’s giants, visionaries and leaders who changed the world, our world, should include the name of Ted ‘Captain America’ Turner. — Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity., is the Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. He has appeared as an analyst on CNN, Al Jazeera, SKYnews, SABC, NTA and served as an adviser on Africa business to Houston’s former Mayor Lee Brown. Follow on X @Chido247
