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| June 1999 Talking Ted
Nuclear war is a real possibility, the planet's population is out of control and the United States hasn't owned up to its history of ethnic cleansing, according to media mogul Ted Turner, who spoke last month at The University of Montana. The high-energy vice president of Time Warner Inc., the nation's largest media company, visited UM's business and journalism schools on May 24. At each school, Turner viewed presentations of student work, answered questions about his experiences at the helm of a communications empire and shared his views on a variety of topics. Turner and his son, Beau, were on campus at the invitation of their friends, Dennis and Phyllis Washington, who are strong UM supporters. In front of a packed audience in the Journalism Building auditorium, the billionaire activist and Montana landowner described his three passions: peace, population and the environment. Following a presentation about the journalism school's Native News Honors Project -- a newspaper supplement and television documentary that investigate Indian issues in Montana -- Turner noted the hypocrisy of the United States. "We are fighting to prevent ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, but we were guilty of doing the same thing to Native Americans for 400 years," he said. "We are holding ourselves up as paragons of virtue at a time when we haven't properly dealt with it." Turner appeared impressed with the journalism school's attention to Indian issues and efforts to recruit Indian students. "Thank you for trying in your way, at this university, to (give) Native Americans an opportunity to come into journalism," he said. "(The presentation) was very interesting, and I applaud you very much." Though he said he is not a journalist, Turner gave journalism students some advice: "Take whatever job you can, and do the best you know how. And like cream, if you are good you will rise to the top, and if you're not, you will sink to the bottom. Work hard and don't accept failure as an option." Turner also provided advice during his visit to the School of Business Administration, giving away his secret of business success: "Have your expenses be less than your income." While in the Gallagher Building, Turner watched student presentations on experiential learning and types of technology used in the school, including CD-ROM design, a virtual tour of the building, videoconferencing and Internet courses. Turner said the Internet is having a big influence on traditional media. "We are wrestling with what the impact will be," he said. "We think the fastest impacts will be in newspapers." Technology is making modern life go too fast, Turner said. "I'm glad I lived in the generation I did." Worries about future generations spur Turner's renowned philanthropy. Through the Turner Foundation, he has given millions of dollars to environmental causes and charities. In 1997 he announced a $1 billion gift to the United Nations for programs that benefit women, children and population programs. "Every species that gets out of control is brought back into line by disease and starvation," he said. "And that will happen to us. It's already happening to us. Half the people in the world are going to bed without a full caloric content." Turner fears a future that resembles the movie "Road Warrior," where humans fight "over the last tins of food and gas in the desert," he said. "It's not a scenario I would like to see for the future of humanity. We are so smart and so brave, and have done so many incredible things. We have it in our power to be better than we are." -- Patia Stephens |
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