Commentary

Ted Turner Q&A: Great Television To Watch, But Little Insight On Investments

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 16, 2009

The best Ted Turner can offer us on why to watch television these days comes from his interviews.

The celebrated cable TV creator, in a recent question and answer session with Bloomberg TV, says if he were in charge of CNN, he would focus less on opinions and "fluff" and more on news. Well, we all know what that would result in: better-informed Americans, but not better-entertained, news-following Americans.

He would also bring back "Captain Planet and the Planeteers," that middling-rated animated cartoon that ran on TBS in the early '90s. The captain was all about protecting the environment, which is an idea near and dear to Turner's heart. (He was a co-creator of the TV series).

Concerning Comcast and NBC, he believes this mega-media deal would be a good one - for Comcast anyway -- since they don't have much in the way of programming.

All this despite the fact that the mega-media mergers he was associated with -- Time Warner's buying his own Turner Broadcasting, and then Time Warner's selling itself to AOL -- didn't turn out so well.

Why was selling Turner Broadcasting wrong? "I made a mistake. I was tired," he told the interviewer.

Great stuff. Nice to hear that media moguls do take their eye off the ball from time to time, and/or that they just don't care that much (especially when they remain very rich).

While Turner's had battles with Rupert Murdoch from time to time, he believes News Corp. has actually done a great job with The Wall Street Journal. He tried to tell Murdoch that by letter -- but hasn't, as yet, received any answer to that message.

This is great television. But when it comes to insight as to where to shift my media investments in my 401K, I'm at a loss as to who has the better answers -- Captain Planet or Captain Ted.

2 comments about "Ted Turner Q&A: Great Television To Watch, But Little Insight On Investments ".

Check to receive email when comments are posted.

Paul Van winkle from FUNCTION, October 16, 2009 at 12:37 p.m.
How about some critical thinking - and programming?
Murdoch & Co hawk more record population growth and exponential mass consumption of limited resources as answers to their own corporate short term investment woes. And people line up to slake and deride anyone who says or does otherwise. Yeah, more entertainment. Does that make any sense? I mean, why should Americans have to think and do math?
Did you read any of the comments on Hollywood Reporter hacking Turner -- one of the few persons still standing in his arena that puts his money where his mouth is? These idiots deride him....why? To a person, they suggest FOX News has "answers"? Which ones, to which adolescent sensational questions?
As a media, TV has massively succeeded in driving entertainment and comsumption as the central motivating factors in human activity. And failed in its potential and purpose to influence anything other than getting people to go buy Wendy's and quilted toilet paper. The mass numbing.
I'd love to hear Ted's ideas. Wished I could've read about them here, because they surely ain't coming from FOX viewers or their idiotic comrades and dinosaurs, pushing death by short-term pap and long-term stupid.
Reply

Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, November 2, 2009 at 12:36 p.m.

Media investments in your 401K? Really?