Posted on 06/02/2005 9:17:30 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
During an appearance Wednesday to celebrate CNN's 25th anniversary, CNN founder Ted Turner, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, recalled that he was inspired to launch CNN International after Fidel Castro told him, "Ted, the whole world needs CNN. I watch it all the time and it's very important to me." Turner also, reporter Jill Vejnoska relayed, "credited his international Goodwill Games with helping end the Cold War."
Turner's comments came during a June 1 session emceed by Christiane Amanpour at the Techwood Drive lawn in Atlanta of the building where CNN was started in 1980. CNN on Wednesday played excerpts throughout the day and I saw one excerpt with the Cold War claim, but did not see any video of Turner crediting Castro for inspiring CNN International.
An excerpt from Vejnoska's June 2 article:
....In 1985, CNN International launched globally, thanks in part to a conversation Turner had had with Fidel Castro.
"He said, 'Ted, the whole world needs CNN. I watch it all the time and it's very important to me,'" Turner said. "And I thought, 'Well, if Castro needs it, certainly the capitalists around the world could use it, and perhaps some other Communists, too."
Speaking of Communists, Turner also credited his international Goodwill Games with helping end the Cold War.
"I thought between sports and news and television and friendship that we could end the Cold War, and by God, we did," he said, calling the Games "an important straw" in ending the conflict....
END of Excerpt
For the news story, "CNN at 25 brings out tender side of Turner," in full (particularly annoying registration process may be required, but I think this link [unlike the one the MRC's Rich Noyes passed along to me in alerting me to this article!] will bypass that requirement. If a string of characters is added after the ".html" in this link, delete them): www.ajc.com
In addition, while CNN International is available on only some U.S. cable systems, it is a substantial force in the rest of the world -- not only the international channel but also the various in-country channels that CNN owns. According to 2000 data supplied by the National Cable Television Assn., CNN was available to 1 billion people in 212 nations worldwide, serviced through 37 bureaus.
CNN International president Chris Cramer says it's important for CNN to own all of those outlets, not only because they make the brand ubiquitous but also because they allow correspondents to be stationed in the nations they cover instead of "parachuting in" when big news breaks.
Sometimes he goes off his meds too.
good grief! this Castro worship thing is getting to me...Oliver Stone, Robert Redford, little boy Leo de Caprio, and now Ted.
PING
Castro, Kim Il-Jung, Pol Pott, Bashir Assad, Baby doc, Saddam Hussein...all fans of and inspiration to CNN International.
You'll enjoy this thread.
Geeee... should I watch CNN's anniversary, or Bravo's latest "Sports Kids Moms and Dads"..... hmmmmmmm....
For those who wonder why Communism has never produced a master propogandist like Joseph Goebbels, the answer is they don't have to. Lamestream media like CNN are doing their job for them.
At first I was offended that this clown wanted credit for helping to end the Cold War......then it dawned on me.....
He is a Communist and a Moron. He should get at least some credit for losing (i.e. ending) the Cold War.....
People of little or no moral courage are often spellbound by the charms of an extremely charismatic person. In the 20's and early 30's, they would probably have felt the same about Stalin and Hitler.
I bet she is either in prison or she is dead.
Yes, indeed, I enjoyed it. Now I understand why we don't rescue folks who've attempted to "escape" to Cuba, and that's because they all are either flying on their private jets or sailing on their yachts over there.
Yeah, that was it, not the Pope John Paul II, not Reagan, not Thatcher, not Walesa, not Trident, Peacekeeper or Pershing II missiles, not the expansion and modernization of the conventional US Navy. Nope, those things were waaaay overrated.
A now forgotten and then unwatched Olympic-wannabe sports event broke the back of European Marxism-Leninism.
Thanks for the post:
Especially this excerpt..useful idiots that they are.
"My job was to bug their rooms," revealed Cuban intelligence defector Delfin Fernandez while on a Madrid TV show recently, "with both cameras and listening devices. Most people have no idea they are being watched while they are in Cuba. But their personal activities are filmed under orders from Castro himself. Child sex, drug use, orgies, those are the sort of things they want to tape, anything--shall we say—‘ethically incorrect.’ And Castro's undercover agents don't wait around hoping the famous visitors might randomly engage in these things. "
so, is Castro COURTING America? Did these guys - Oliver Stone, Ted Turner, Robert Redford, etal - get invitations from Castro to visit him in Cuba, by chance?
Well, when it happened my husband and I had it on Tivo and watched it over and over for about 20 minutes. We laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes.
Good stuff. Too bad he didn't break more than a knee.
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