Note to the Secretary-General SG 10 February 2003 Further to your discussion with Tim Wirth last week, please find attached the tape of the Ted Turner interview conducted by Mike Wallace for 60 Minutes II, which was shown on Wednesday, 5 February 2003, along with a transcript. Amir A. Dossal cc: Mr. Riza CBS News Transcripts 60 Minutes H (9:00 PM ET) - CBS February 5, 2003 Wednesday Profile Ted Turner; life and career of Ted Turner MIKE WALLACE TED TURNER MIKE WALLACE, co-host: Tonight we take another look at the maverick, Ted Turner: 'Captain Outrageous/Terrible Ted,"The Mouth From The South.' We've been spending time with him, following him around the past couple of months to find out what he is up to, what his plans are, this television pioneer who created CNN more than 20 years ago. Well, he is fascinating as usual, unpredictable as usual. He let us know that he didn't much like his job as vice chairman at AOL Time Warner, but he didn't give us a clue that he was going to resign from that job, which he did last week. We talked with him again yesterday, and you'll hear more about that later. First, come with us now as we walk with Ted on a Manhattan sidewalk outside AOL Time Warner headquarters and begin to learn what has been churning in Ted Turner's always-volatile mind. They've not iced you here? Mr. TED TURNER: Iced me? WALLACE: Yeah, iced you. Mr. TURNER: What's that mean? I know what icing the puck is, but you mean put me on ice? WALLACE: Ice you out, yeah. Mr. TURNER: No, I'm not—I'm not out. I have one foot in the door and one on the sidewalk. I—see, here we—we're—we're welcome to go in. (Footage of Turner and Wallace entering AOL Time Warner building) WALLACE: (Voiceover) Though, as we said, he resigned last week, Ted Turner still holds the title of vice chairman, and he will until May. As a vice chairman here at AOL, what does that mean? What—what is your job? Mr. TURNER: Well, vice chairman is~is—is—is—is kind of a title without portfolio. WALLACE: Title without meaning? Mr. TURNER: Right, like the emperor of Japan. (Footage of Turner and Wallace) WALLACE: (Voiceover) He's in charge of just about nothing. He doesn't even have a voice anymore about the running of his baby, CNN. He says his formal role has been that of adviser, but it's not really what he wants to be. Mr. TURNER: I'm trying to be as good—I'm trying to play the role that I've been—that I've been given as—as good as I can. WALLACE: But you're the guy who said... Mr. TURNER: I'm on the board of directors. WALLACE: So they pay attention to you... Mr. TURNER: Well, they do, yes. WALLACE: ...as much as you'd like. Mr. TURNER: No. (Footage of Turner during merger announcement) WALLACE: (Voiceover) Back when the plan to merge Time Warner with AOL was first announced, Ted voted for it with unbridled joy. Mr. TURNER: (From vintage footage) And I—I did it with—with as much or more excitement and enthusiasm as I did on that night when I first made love some 42 years ago. Well, you know, on the eve of something like that, it was very clear that—that it was going to go through, so I might as well have gone along with it. WALLACE: And it was a big mistake. Mr. TURNER: It was, absolutely. (Footage of AOL Time Warner people gathering for photos; Turner and Wallace) WALLACE: (Voiceover) When the merger was announced, stock prices soared, giving Ted, the largest individual shareholder, billions. But since then, AOL Time Warner stock has gone south, way south. How much did you lose from AOL Time Warner? Mr. TURNER: I don't-from the high to the low? WALLACE: Yeah. Mr. TURNER: $7 billion or $8 billion. (Footage of Turner and Wallace; vintage footage of Turner) WALLACE: (Voiceover) How did things get so bad? Well, it's been a long road, and 60 MINUTES has been there for much of the ride. Back in 1977, we first met the young Ted Turner on 60 MINUTES when he sailed The Courageous to victory in the America's Cup race. Mr. TURNER: (From 1977) Oh, you know, it's just another sailboat race. (Vintage footage of Turner celebrating, greeting people; photos of Ted's father and himself as a child) WALLACE: (Voiceover) And then he had a little too much victory punch. But the yachtsman, playboy, bad boy was already on his way, in large part, due to his father, who ran a successful billboard company, but who was tortured by depression and tough on his son, Ted. Mr. TURNER: I do not think my father was abusive. My father was a strict disciplinarian, but he and I were extremely close. WALLACE: He used to beat you with a wire hanger. Mr. TURNER: With a wire coat hang-he did—he did several times. WALLACE: And then the story goes that he made you beat him. Mr. TURNER: He did. He made me spank him one night, and—and that was very, very hard. And I—I was easier—it was much easier to be spanked than spank your father. (Photo of Turner and his father; newspaper article; footage of Turner and Harry Reasoner; television screen featuring Superstation) WALLACE: (Voiceover) Then when Ted was 24, his father committed suicide, and that is when Turner swung into high gear as an entrepreneur and budding tycoon. By 1979, when my colleague Harry Reasoner talked with him, Ted had already created the nation's first TV Superstation. (Excerpt from vintage broadcast) Mr. TURNER: Winning, what do you think of this team? "WINNING": I like every one of them. (End of excerpt; footage of Turner in 1980; CNN logo) WALLACE: (Voiceover) And he was the owner of the Atlanta Braves baseball team. And then the very next year, 1980, he launched CNN. Announcer: This is CNN. (Footage of CNN control room; cover of Time; Turner and Sawyer; CBS building; photo of Turner; photo of Turner and Fonda; footage of Turner and Wallace) WALLACE: (Voiceover) It was dubbed the Chicken Noodle Network back then, but as CNN began to show it was a serious news operation, Turner's appetite got even bigger. In 1986, when Diane Sawyer interviewed him for 60 MINUTES, Ted had just lost his bid to take over this network, CBS. Along the way, of course, there was his personal life, and that was another story. Turner has been married and divorced three times, most recently to Jane Fonda, to whom he remains deeply loyal. I read something Jane Fonda had said about him. She has said, 'With all the love in the world,' she says, 'he has been severely, hauntingly traumatized. He always thinks something is to be pulled out from him,' with reference to your dad maybe. 'He has no belief in permanency, stability. It is one reason I'm not with him.' Mr. TURNER: I'm sure that she feels that way. She's told me that. I--I-I-I-I wouldn't say that I agree with that completely. I know that I—that I have some insecurity problems. Most overachievers do. I've had... (Footage of Turner on several occasions) WALLACE: (Voiceover) But he's had other problems, problems that earned him those names 'Captain Outrageous,"Terrible Ted' and 'Mouth From The South,' much of it because he says what's on his mind, and you never know what that's going to be, and sometimes neither does he. Mr. TURNER: And I get in trouble because, you know, when you're-when you're speaking off the cuff and you don't—aren't positive of what you're going to say till you say it, you say things that, taken out of context, look pretty outrageous sometimes. (Footage of Turner and Wallace) WALLACE: (Voiceover) Like the time he took a swipe at religion or one particular religion. 'Christianity is for losers.' Mr. TURNER: Terrible statement. I-I--I-I really regretted... WALLACE: Where did it come from? Mr. TURNER: ...regretted that from the time that it came out of my big, fat mouth. (During speech) I believe that you should live by your word. (Footage of Turner and audience) WALLACE: (Voiceover) And there were others, like when he gave a speech some months after the World Trade Center disaster. Look, after 9/11, you said in a speech- Mr. TURNER: Oh, my God. WALLACE: ...what was on your mind, and some had a problem with it. And you apologized after—well, expressed regret for it. But let me-let me repeat what you said. Mr. TURNER: OK, go ahead. WALLACE: The 19 young men who blew themselves up going into the Trade Center...' Mr. TURNER: (From speech) ...going into the Trade Center that our administration called cowards--I mean, how are you a coward when you're willing to die for your country? I mean, I think they were brave, at the very least. And I'm not going to fly my airplane... 'Brave' was a bad—was a bad word. But I do not think—as I—I know, for instance, my father committed suicide, and he was not a coward. He was very brave when he shot himself, in my—in my opinion.