GoldenEye quip about CNN
RIP Ted Turner, a great iconoclast and visionary.
In the 1995 Bond film "GoldenEye" Dame Judi Dench's character M says disdainfully "Unlike the American government, we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN." But I didn't understand what was so wrong with getting news from CNN. By then it was already established as a reputable source for live news coverage. But then later I understood the then-prevailing sentiment that a government funded spy agency should never be scooped by a private enterprise.
From the obituary in The Sunday Times: "But it was the Gulf war of 1991 that made the station a world player, not only in media terms, but in diplomatic terms. With representation in 140 countries by this time, it was given permission to broadcast from Iraq during the conflict, and became an instant intermediary, with each side sizing up the other’s commanders and strategists live over the airwaves."
Ted Turner could have become a Bond villain like Elliott Carver or Rupert Murdoch but instead chose to donate to the United Nations and fund land conservation efforts. Bringing people together instead of dividing them for profit.