Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Barring satellite problems, we won't be signing off until the world ends.We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event.We'll play the national anthem only one time, on the first of June, and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer My God to Thee' before we sign off." 1 Ted Turner made this promise when he launched Cable News Network (CNN) on June 1 1980.This quote among other tidbits of information about Ted Turner and the origin of CNN can be found in Lisa Napoli's book Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN and The Birth of 24-Hour News (Abrams Press, 2020). 2As the title of her book indicates, Napoli's book is centered on two main subjects: Ted Turner and the birth of CNN.The latter would engender the 24-hour news cycle, a major media revolution that would forever after alter the face of the TV news landscape. 3However, her book does not follow the typical linear rags-to-riches story of the American self-made man who pulls himself up by his boot straps to conquer the world.It starts at the end of Turner's career with what could objectively be considered the nadir or low-point.In the introductory chapter March 2001, Turner is giving a speech at Harvard in honor of receiving the Goldsmith Career Award for Excellence in Journalism.Described by the author as old and tired, the media mogul's world had just disintegrated.He had just been ousted from CNN management and lost control of his networks due to the AOL-Time Warner merger, his third wife Jane Fonda had just left Napoli, Lisa, Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, And the Birth of 24-Hour News InMedia, 8.2.
Source: InMedia
DOI: 10.4000/inmedia.2604
Author: David Lipson
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3209517140