Ted Turner Wants "Less Fluffy News," "Less Talk, More News" On CNN

Ted Turner wants back in charge at CNN, he said in an interview set to air on Bloomberg TV Friday.

"I'd like to see me running Time Warner," he told Bloomberg's Betty Liu. "I'd like CNN to report to me, and the Cartoon Network."

His plans for CNN would be "less fluffy news and more international news," he said. "Less talk, more news."

Read more about Turner's comments to Bloomberg at The Hollywood Reporter.

These comments are similar to ones Turner made earlier this year, when he told Jeffrey Sachs that CNN has "gone a little more tabloid than I'd like to have seen it."

At that time, Turner said he'd like to see "more environmental news and more international news," adding, "I'd like it to be a little more substantive.

"If the stock goes down much more, I could buy it all back," he said.

Turner made similar, if more colorful, comments about CNN when the network turned 25, telling Christiane Amanpour he'd like to see "a little less pervert of the day" type of news:

"The only thing I can suggest, and I love it the way it is, but I would like to see us return to a little more international coverage on the domestic feed and a little more environmental coverage," Turner said in response to a question from CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour before an audience of hundreds of journalists from around the world on the network's anniversary.

"And maybe a little less pervert of the day," said Turner. "I mean, there's a lot of perversion around, I know that, but is it really news? I mean, some of it is. I guess you've got to cover Michael Jackson, but not three stories about perversion at the lead of every half-hour."

Turner founded CNN in 1980.

Comments

[brady61995]

start up a new one ted. cnn is tainted

[skymuffin]

Then why did you sell it, you ding dong? Gad.

[SheenaVa]

CNN will not return to being credible as long as they report on "tweets" of their viewers. If you want to have a half hour show about what your viewers think, fine. Running it as a constant thread throughout the day is not news.

Sorry CNN I'll come back when you start reporting real news again.

[learntofly]

Ted is right. But CNN's problem is not just its on-air hosts, it has developed a bias to the right (Lou Dobbs, John King/Dana Bash, Wolf Blitzer/Ca­stellanos/­Borger to name a few). Also, the people who hired/kept these Fox Lite hosts needs to be removed.

[JISantiago]

Ted Turner is right. The Master knows what he is talking.

CNN is no longer a credible global news network as it used to be in the years past. It has now become the "also ran" second stringer!

With guys like Wolf Blitzer, CNN has become the most dullest and boring news channel. It certainly is crunch time at the situation room. Bring back Turner to turn things around and put CNN back as world leader in news gathering.

[ilse]

"Less fluffy news" is a funny way of putting it. If Ted Turners wants to head CNN in the right direction then he better do it soon because right now they're working on becoming fox wannabe news. They're having trouble competing against legit news for audience so they're catering to the right wing crazies thinking they might have a better chance of getting an audience.

[andycan]

CNN in Spanish offers its educated Latin American audience real news stories day in day out.
USA CNN, on the other hand, offers day long talk show junk food.
Why does CNN treat its USA audience with more contempt than its Latin American audience?

[NeoStar9]

That's the case with all versions of CNN from what I heard. There is a significant difference between the USA version and all other international versions of CNN. This is why they no longer show I think the international version during the middle day for an hour like they used to. The difference was clear for everyone to see that caught what was shown before that hour and after it. The USA version is really the shallow version and has really dumbed itself down in the quest for ratings.

If you have BBC America, watch the news hours there or even the news hours on PBS then watch CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. There is a massive difference. However news isn't fun to watch. It's suppose to be educational. It shouldn't be rated at all. The fact that it is rated and that is what companies seek causes it to stop being news and turns into entertainment.

[karela]

I wish Ted Turner was running it. It used to be a reliable news channel. Now it fluff and boring. Wold Blitzer has to be the most dull person on television. Why do they keep hiring that guy? That whole channel has no energy. It isn't fresh or invigorating. I like Anderson Cooper, but even he seems to be dragged down into the boring doldrums. If they run it any further into the ground, maybe Ted can afford to buy it back on the cheap.

[Noxiousbob]

One can only hope that we're lucky enough to get him back in control. It would be good to have a decent news channel again. There is msnbc, but that involves alot of debating talking heads, too. There's too much editorial in journalism now.

[HeartT]

Could it be that Ted sees the economic benefit of exposing FOX as the-not-a-news station as opposed to one that really is? One that respects its viewers to applaud the story that crystalizes the first real lesson in writing -- SHOW. DON'T TELL.
Thank goodness someone realizes that America needs to grow out of its gossipy stage and learn to appreciate the importance of having facts and truth when it comes to making wise choices.

[foxisms]

Thanks, Ted. But "we'll have to leave that there."

[Eveline]

Please, let this happen.

[Decipherer]

What's with that bizarro 'stache, Ted?

[kareemachan]

"I'd like to see me running Time Warner," he told Bloomberg's Betty Liu. "I'd like CNN to report to me, and the Cartoon Network."

What would he do to the Cartoon Network to make it less fluffy?

[fredamae]

Too Late Ted! I left CNN 2 years ago and couldn't be happier.

[NotMcCain]

Turner's ideas would improve CNN tremendously.

Unfortunately, the current philosophy seems to be going in the opposite direction (Note their primetime news-tabloid hybrid, "AC 360"