Turned failed to give any credit to Ronald Reagan, who engaged the nation in a massive military buildup and called for a "Star Wars" missile defense program.

Soviet leaders have admitted they could not compete with Reagan's military buildup - a key factor in their decision to abandon communism.

But Turner doesn't see it that way. When he launched CNN in 1980, Turner said he set out to create "the most respected name in television news," what he called "the New York Times of the airway." He bragged: "And we did it."

But a desire to make money wasn’t his only motivation, he told the conference. "It was about an adventure. I really thought that the world would benefit having lots of different information about all different parts of the world.

"We put our focus from the very beginning on national and international news. That really wasn’t available from CBS, NBC and ABC, because they were too busy covering the trivia."

Turner revealed that he got the idea for CNN International – which he launched in 1985 – from, of all people, that champion of free press, Fidel Castro.

"He said, 'Ted, the whole world needs CNN. I use it all the time and it’s very important to me.' So I said, 'Well, if Castro needs it, certainly the capitalists around the world could use it, and perhaps some other communists too.'"

He also claimed that by establishing close ties to the Saddam Hussein regime, CNN was able to gain exclusive coverage of the first Gulf War.

"Basically, by making friends all over the world, which included the Iraqi television people and [Deputy Prime Minster] Tariq Aziz – the secretary of information or whatever he was – we got access that others didn’t, and when the war started, we were broadcasting and nobody else was."

But he hinted that CNN might have slipped from its position as TV’s most respected news source, saying: "You can coast on that reputation for a long time but if you’re going to hold that position, which I think would be the most profitable position, too, you have to earn it."

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