Turner revolutionised television news when he launched the world’s first 24-hour news channel in 1980.<\/p>\n
Turner was an outspoken liberal. He endorsed Democrats such as Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton, and once compared Murdoch, a conservative, to Adolf Hitler.<\/p>\n
Their feud became so intense over the decades that it is now considered pivotal to reshaping the industry into a 24-hour news cycle.<\/p>\n
So for many, Murdoch’s kind words for Turner on his death were unexpected.<\/p>\n
“Ted Turner’s vision for 24-hour cable news transformed the media industry and gave viewers everywhere a front seat to witness history unfold,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“His impact as a trailblazer has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. He was a great American and friend.”<\/p>\n
Here is how the pair went from publicly warring to quietly burying the hatchet.<\/p>\n
The first clash of titans<\/p>\n
Murdoch and Turner were known to duel over politics and journalism, but their feud is believed to have emerged in earnest<\/a> from something else entirely: the 1983 edition of the Sydney to Hobart race.<\/p>\n Ted Turner is carried off by his crew after winning the America’s Cup sailing race in 1977. (AP: J. Walter Green)<\/p>\n Turner was a champion sailor. He skippered a three-year-old yacht called Courageous to win the 1977 America’s Cup.<\/p>\n Six years later, he hoped to add the prestigious Australian title to his record.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the question of line honours was to be decided in the boardrooms of the Wrest Point Hotel and Casino in Sandy Bay, Tasmania.<\/p>\n Nirvana, a 41-metre vessel owned by Marvin Greene of Reeves Communications and sponsored by Rupert Murdoch, had crossed the finish line first, but not before causing Turner’s yacht Condor to run aground in the final minutes.<\/p>\n Turner took the matter to a protest hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a committee of Tasmanian officials deliberated for more than an hour, the outspoken cable news network owner held court in the hall outside.<\/p>\n Surrounded by fellow sailors and journalists, he deliberated on world politics, his friendship with Fidel Castro, and the politics of television.<\/p>\n He also reportedly offered $100,000 for any verifiable sighting of a Tasmanian tiger.<\/p>\n Turner won the protest in the end, seeing Nirvana disqualified<\/a> and securing first line honours for himself.<\/p>\n Condor (centre) closely shadows rival Morning Glory, followed by Bit O Fluff (right), years later at the start of the 1996 Sydney to Hobart yacht race. (AFP: Torsten Blackwood)<\/p>\n At the post-race dinner back at the boathouse, a drunken Turner delivered a “long and rambling speech” in which he reportedly vented his frustrations<\/a> at “the man he believed was a sponsor of Nirvana”: one Rupert Murdoch.<\/p>\n While few records of the incident have survived the decades since, it is known Turner challenged Murdoch to a fistfight<\/a> he wanted televised from Las Vegas.<\/p>\n It wouldn’t be the only time the CNN boss proposed dropping gloves with his rival.<\/p>\n A cable news gambit<\/p>\n Murdoch placed himself in direct competition with Turner 13 years later when he launched Fox News in 1996 as a direct competitor to CNN, the pioneer of the 24-hour news format, which Murdoch derided for its “liberal slant”<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Australian-born mogul had failed several times to start a national news service in the US but was determined to succeed this time.<\/p>\n Turner declared he was “looking forward to squishing Rupert like a bug”, but it appeared Murdoch had a bigger gambit in mind than healthy competition.<\/p>\n Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch talking across Bob Wright of NBC during a White House meeting on television ratings on February 29, 1996.\u00a0 (Reuters)<\/p>\n Their rivalry exploded into public view<\/a> when Time Warner, CNN’s parent company, declined to carry the channel on its New York City cable system.<\/p>\n Turner went on to accuse Murdoch on several occasions of attempting to leverage a friendship with Rudy Giuliani to have the then-mayor force Time Warner to carry Fox News.<\/p>\n It was this spat that led Turner to liken Murdoch to “the late Fuhrer” when speaking with a group of journalists, saying both employed similar tabloid tactics to smear opponents.<\/p>\n The News Corporation boss retaliated with an editorial in New York Post that questioned Turner’s sanity.<\/p>\n By early 2002, Fox News had overtaken CNN in ratings.<\/p>\n ‘It’s how good you are that really counts’<\/p>\n In 2003, Turner took aim at Murdoch over his support for the Iraq War.<\/p>\n He renewed his challenge for another fistfight, labelling Murdoch a “warmonger”.<\/p>\n A timeline of the News International hacking scandal<\/a><\/p>\n Look back at the major events to date in News International’s UK phone-hacking scandal.<\/p>\n A report by The Guardian<\/a> at the time noted Fox News continued to outstrip CNN in ratings during the war, drawing the following response from Turner: “Just because your ratings are bigger, doesn’t mean you’re better. It’s not how big you are, it’s how good you are that really counts.”<\/p>\n When it was revealed in 2011 that Murdoch-owned tabloid newspaper News of the World had been hacking voicemails<\/a>, Turner (who had retired years prior) renewed his criticisms of journalism overseen by the media mogul.<\/p>\n “I’m past retirement age now. So, I’m 72. That’s a little late to be running a corporation. Murdoch’s still doing it at 80, but for not for much longer, I’m afraid. I think he’s going to have to step down,” he told Bloomberg<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n “This is serious\u2026 It’s going against the law. You know, not even Rupert Murdoch should be allowed to break the law. Nobody should\u2026,” Turner continued. “He should have known. I mean, he was chairman of the board. He’s responsible. I took responsibility when I ran my company. You never heard me say, ‘Well, I didn’t know.’ You never saw me get in that kind of trouble, did you?”<\/p>\n Ted Turner said he buried the hatchet with Rupert Murdoch over lunch. (Reuters: Phil McCarten)<\/p>\n In a parallel to the ill-fated post-race dinner where their feud began, amends were eventually made over a shared meal.<\/p>\n![\"Ted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/447cf60df24dd738c48f0675dcda5833.jpeg\")
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