UGA’s Grady College introduced me to Tom Johnson

  

            Tom Johnson and I met, circa 1980, while serving on the advisory board of UGA’s Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He was publisher of the Los Angeles Times, and I was publisher of The Press-Sentinel and several South Georgia newspapers. We also share a connection by serving on the Richard B. Russell Foundation. Tom’s friendship and advice over the decades have been priceless.

            This past winter, Tom was in Athens to talk about his new book, DRIVEN: A Life in Public Service and Journalism from LBJ to CNN. My friend autographed a stack of DRIVEN for me to give to family and friends. If you haven’t read the splendid, history-packed book, I recommend it to you.

In 1990 Ted Turner recruited Tom to serve as president of CNN. Tom’s tenure at the revolutionary 24-hour news service started with a bang—the Gulf War. We are publishing Tom’s reflections about his most-famous former boss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dnesmith@cninewspapers.com 

 

 

 

My years with Ted Turner

 by Tom Johnson 

   

            Yes, he could be outrageous.

            When a little girl fell into a well in Texas and the rescue of “Baby Jessica” unfolded live on TV, CNN’s ratings skyrocketed. Ted joked maybe CNN should place candy bars around other wells.

            Yet, you could also find him in war-torn regions poking sticks in the ground searching for land mines that children were stepping on, blowing themselves up.

            He was complicated.

Until I met Ted, I thought Lyndon Johnson was the most complex person I had ever known. Before I accepted the job as CNN’s president, I told him, “Ted, before you hire me, you need to know that I battle depression.”

            He shot back, “Hell, pal, let me tell you about me.” That’s all he said. It was classic Ted: disarming, revealing and removed, all at once.

            He was impatient with a restless energy that could make him difficult. If you were late for a meeting with him, it was almost a death sentence. I think the reason he hated delay was that he couldn’t wait to get to the future.

            Above all, Ted Turner was a visionary.

When he founded CNN as a 24-hour news channel, the other networks provided only morning and evening news shows. They would break into regular programming only for major events.

Ted saw the need for an around-the-clock news network. He envisioned CNN as a truly global channel that would provide honest, reliable, unbiased information to people around the world, especially in countries where independent news was suppressed.

            When I was considering accepting the job, I asked Ted what he would expect of the next president of CNN. He said, “I want us to make CNN the absolute best news network on the planet.”

When I asked him, “What are your policies about news?” he said, “Be fair.”

He wanted reporters to report, anchors to anchor and neither to editorialize. He wanted news to be the star, not the personalities.

            My first day at CNN was Aug. 1, 1990. The following day, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. I told Ted that if we were to be the premier news source for a possible war between the U.S. and Iraq, it could cost as much as $30 million over budget. His answer startled me: “You spend whatever you think it takes, pal.”

            With Ted’s total support, we established a special communications link, so that when all other networks lost their transmission capabilities from Baghdad, all eyes turned to CNN.

            Over the 11 years I was with Ted, we covered so many other stories—the fall of the Soviet Union, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Balkan wars, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the Waco siege, the death of Princess Diana.

            What would those years have been like without CNN?

Ted told me that the most important thing he did in life was raising his five children. A close second was creating CNN.

            He was a man of many accomplishments. He won the America’s Cup, the renowned sailing race. He bought the Atlanta Braves and transformed them from one of baseball’s worst teams into one of its best.

You could call those rich man’s toys, but Ted cared far more deeply about the planet. In 1998 he donated $1 billion and created the United Nations Foundation to fund humanitarian causes such as helping refugees, fighting disease and clearing land mines.

He worked with former Sen. Sam Nunn to reduce the dangers of nuclear weapons with the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

He was a passionate steward of the land. Over the years, he acquired and worked to restore 2 million acres, cleaning the streams, removing the cattle, and reintroducing bison, gray wolves, and native plants and grasses. His bison herd now numbers over 45,000 head. On those lands, you can see what the Native Americans saw when they roamed there.

No mention of Ted’s life can ignore the love he had for Jane Fonda. They were remarkable together, sharing both passion and purpose in the common cause for peace.

Ted was dashing and charismatic with the neatly trimmed mustache of a Hollywood leading man of yesterday. He was a swashbuckler whose bravado exuded the promise of daring, romantic adventures.

Ted was a maverick like no one I have ever known.

We will miss you, pal. 

 

Tom Johnson, right, signs copies of his book for Dink 

NeSmith, left, in Athens, Georgia, last winter.