CNN founder Ted Turner dies aged 87 Ted Turner, the brash sportsman and entrepreneur whose ambition and instincts led to a media empire that included groundbreaking news network CNN, has died, CNN reported on Wednesday citing a press release from Turner Enterprises. He was 87. No cause of death was given.

MR. DIRECTOR: Ted Turner, founder of CNN and creator of television news as a 24-hour public service, has died. That's pretty much what all the headlines will say. But it is worth dwelling on the gigantic effects and consequences derived from the creation of a news channel in continuous transmission. That single idea changed the map of power in the world and, with it, modified -many times without us noticing- our habits of life. Robert Edward Turner III installed a camera broadcasting live on a permanent basis and forced the political, economic and cultural powers of the planet to adapt to that pace. He did it before the internet. That paradigm shift forced all institutions - and anyone aspiring to influence any area of public life - to play by the rules of television immediacy. Since then, everyone had to respond in real time, while millions of people received a constant stream of news hierarchized according to the urgency criterion of each minute, as in a press room on a global scale. The model empowered the citizen and strengthened what in English is called accountability . In a way, it democratized access to information and interconnected the world under a continuous pulse, sust