Turner Compares Fox’s Popularity to Hitler

2005-02-01

Richard Moore

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Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:07:55 -0800
To: •••@••.•••
From: Alan Rycroft <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Justice.int-- Ted Turner and the FOX Fuhrer Furor 

---<fwd>---
Turner Compares Fox's Popularity to Hitler  
By Jim Finkle -- Broadcasting & Cable
1/25/2005 

Ted Turner called Fox a propaganda tool of the Bush
administration and indirectly compared Fox News Channel's
popularity to Adolf Hitler's popular election to run Germany
before World War II. Turner made those fiery comments in his
first address at the National Association for Television
Programming Executives' conference since he was ousted from
Time Warner Inc. five years ago.

The 66-year-old billionaire, who leveraged a television
station in Atlanta into a media empire, made the comment
before a standing-room-only crowd at NATPE's opening session
Tuesday.

His no-nonsense, sometimes humorous, approach during the
one-hour Q&A generated frequent loud applause and laughter.
Fox wasn't laughing, however. "Ted is understandably bitter
having lost his ratings, his network, and now his mind," said
a Fox News spokesperson. "We wish him well." Turner's comment
came just days after another Nazi reference to Fox.

Gilmore Girls Executive Producer Amy Sherman-Palladino had
some choice words for Fox's American Idol at a WB panel at the
critics tour in L.A. Saturday. (Both shows air Tuesday at 8
p.m.) American Idol is like the Nazis marching through
Poland," she said. "You just got to let them go. Get out of
the way. We're kind of France going, 'You know, just don't
burn down Paris, that's all we're asking.'" Asked by one of
her shows' co-stars, Lauren Graham, if that was really the
analogy she wanted to go with, Sherman-Palladino said that's
how she saw it.

Among the other Turner  highlights from Tuesday:

On Fox News: While Fox may be the largest news network [and
has overtaken Turner's CNN], it's not the best, Turner said.
He followed up by pointing out that Adolph Hitler got the most
votes when he was elected to run Germany prior to WWII. He
said the network is the propaganda tool for the Bush
Administration. "There's nothing wrong with that. It's
certainly legal. But it does pose problems for our democracy.
Particularly when the news is dumbed down," leaving voters
without critical information on politics and world events and
overloaded with fluff," he said.

On TV news in general: "We need to be very well informed. We
need to know what's going on in the world. "a little less
Hollywood news and a little more hard news would probably be
good for our society."

On media consolidation: "The consolidation has made it almost
impossible for an independent. It's virtually impossible to
start a cable network." Broadcasters and programmers "don't
want more independent voices out there. They own everything.
That's why I went into the restaurant business. Either that or
I'd work for a salary for one of the big jerks.

The war in Iraq: "We've spent 200 billion destroying Iraq. Now
we've got to spend 200 billion to rebuild it, if they'll let
us -- and all to find a nut in a fox hole -- one guy," Turner
said. "He posed no threat to any of his neighbors,
particularly with us there with overwhelming military
superiority." --"it is obscene and stupid"

Why selling his company to Time Warner turned out to be a huge
mistake: At the time he agreed to sell his company, "it was
from a business standpoint the right thing to do." He owned 9
percent of the merged company, which "which got me some real
serious respect." But after the company acquired AOL, Turner's
stake in the new company was diluted to 3 percent. "Then I got
the pink slip"

Why it wasn't that huge a mistake: "I have a responsibility
not to be too critical of my old company. It is a good company
and I had a lot of experiences there. A lot of time things
that are painful at the time they occurred turn out to be for
the best."

Ted Turner for President? "I'm too old and too burned out to
take on that responsibility. I thought about it when I was
younger. I don't know if I could have gotten elected or not.
It would have been a lot of fun to do when I had higher energy
levels."

What he'll put on his tombstone: "I have nothing more to say."


Note: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA499014.html
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Al Rycroft, Senior Editor
Peace, Earth & Justice News -- http://PEJ.org
A project of the non-profit Prometheus Institute.

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