Ted Turner’s Wild Challenge: A Fistfight with Rupert Murdoch?
Ted Turner, the fiery founder of CNN, passed away on May 6 at the age of 87, leaving behind a legacy of media battles and outrageous rivalries.
Turner and Rupert Murdoch, the mastermind behind Fox News, were locked in a bitter feud that spilled far beyond the confines of their respective networks. Their animosity ignited in the 1980s, fueled by a notorious incident during the 1983 Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race when Murdoch's boat ran aground on Turner's vessel. The aftermath? A drunken dinner where Turner allegedly challenged Murdoch to a fistfight, suggesting it be broadcast live from Las Vegas. Talk about a media spectacle!
This wasn’t just a one-off spat. Turner had previously taken legal action against Murdoch after the Wall Street Journal published a letter from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, showcasing the ongoing tension between these two titans.
As Murdoch launched Fox News in 1996, positioning it as a conservative alternative to what he labeled as CNN's “liberal” bias, Turner was busy merging his Turner Broadcasting System with Time Warner. He boldly claimed that this merger would “squash Rupert Murdoch like a bug.”
Fast forward to April 2026, and the tables had turned dramatically. Fox News surged ahead with over 2.8 million viewers during prime time, while CNN lagged behind with just 910,000. The rivalry had reached new heights, with Turner lamenting, “He’s a warmonger. He promoted it,” in reference to Murdoch’s pro-war stance during the Iraq invasion.
Fox News first eclipsed CNN in viewership in early 2002, riding high on the wave of public interest during the Iraq War. Reports indicated that Fox was pulling in up to 5.6 million viewers during prime time, while CNN managed only 4.4 million.
Turner didn’t hold back in his critiques of Murdoch, dismissing his ratings success with a sharp retort: “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.” He even went so far as to label Murdoch a “mega-maniac” devoid of any “spark of human decency,” drawing an outrageous comparison to Adolf Hitler.
In a historical twist, Turner referenced British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s attempts to negotiate peace with Hitler, suggesting that Murdoch’s tactics were similarly misguided.
Despite their long-standing feud, Turner claimed that by 2019, the two billionaires had managed to bury the hatchet. But the legacy of their rivalry remains a testament to the fierce competition that defines the media landscape.
