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Ted Turner has died

cnn.com

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Re: Ted Turner has died

#31

Post by georgemcbay »

tren_hard wrote: post #19

> In 2010, Turner joined Warren Buffett's and Bill Gates's The Giving Pledge, vowing to donate the majority of his fortune to charity upon his death. Does The Giving Pledge still exist? Will this happen?

The Giving Pledge still exists, but like most philanthropy it has always been more about PR and reputation washing rather than real public good.

The majority of people who have died since making the pledge did not meet the terms they agreed to and the vast majority of people still alive who made the pledge are on track to fail to meet the terms as their wealth is growing significantly faster than their charitable donations.

This is not to say everyone who has made the Giving Pledge is bad, there are some people on the list who have legitimately done a lot of good, but being on the list has overall been a meaningless indicator of actual outcomes.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#32

Post by ranger_danger »

ap99 wrote: post #11
ranger_danger wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there absolutely would be enough if they also covered international stories as well as happier news. There's a whole lot more good going on in the world right now than bad, but for some reason we do not highlight it.

"For some reason" is that people do not watch it. Once you get a taste of "bad" it dominates.

Maybe for some people, but I see no reason we shouldn't seek out and show good news... I think it makes people happier.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#33

Post by ranger_danger »

Ylpertnodi wrote: post #13
ranger_danger wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there absolutely would be enough if they also covered international stories as well as happier news. There's a whole lot more good going on in the world right now than bad, but for some reason we do not highlight it.

'Good going on', rarely affects my wallet.

There are other valid reasons to watch the news though.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#34

Post by nikitalita »

It's funny to me that, whenever these uber-rich old ghouls that were widely despised like 40 years ago die, they're remembered fondly, simply because we have much, much worse rich old ghouls now.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#35

Post by [deleted] »

xattt wrote: post #15
JSR_FDED wrote: post #3

I remember CNN bursting onto the scene. It was revolutionary. Although there was never (even today) enough news to fill a 24hr period. Just endless repeats of the same block of news.

Of all the fascinating things that I’ve seen, there was a Moscow TV station rebroadcasting CNN during the Gulf War. My memory is hazy, and I accepted it as-is at the time, but the idea that American news could be watched live shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union seems entirely wild.

[deleted]

Re: Ted Turner has died

#36

Post by snide »

tren_hard wrote: post #19

> In 2010, Turner joined Warren Buffett's and Bill Gates's The Giving Pledge, vowing to donate the majority of his fortune to charity upon his death. Does The Giving Pledge still exist? Will this happen?

The NYTimes did a nice write-up about how The Giving Pledge is dropping out of vogue.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/business/the-billionaire-...

Re: Ted Turner has died

#37

Post by dyauspitr »

nikitalita wrote: post #34

It's funny to me that, whenever these uber-rich old ghouls that were widely despised like 40 years ago die, they're remembered fondly, simply because we have much, much worse rich old ghouls now.

Ted Turner seemed like a solid guy, not just relatively better.

Re: Ted Turner has died

#38

Post by schlauerfox »

misterboo72 wrote: post #16

As a film fan I remember all of the outrage over his plan to colorize classic films. He was also a critic of the film "Taxi Driver" and complained about the film's values. He was everywhere in the late 70s and early 80s. WTCG -- The Super Station.

Can't find the source but the quote I heard attributed to Orson Welles to Turner wanting to colorize the purposefully black-and-white Citizen Kane was "Tell Ted Turner to keep his goddamn crayolas off my movies"

Re: Ted Turner has died

#40

Post by daveslash »

bsimpson wrote: post #28
westurner wrote: post #7

Now we can make a "Captain Planet" movie to honor Ted. Captain Planet and the Planeteers : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planete...

TIL Turner was a creator of Captain Planet.

I think I heard somewhere (can't find reliable source right now) that he created Captain Planet as a revenge. He had some renewable energy initiative/deal that he was trying to get pushed through that got clobbered by big oil lobbyists. So he created Captain Planet as some revenge scheme.
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