Ted Turner, media mogul who revolutionised TV news by launching CNN, dies at 87

In 1980, Turner launched Cable News Network as the first dedicated rolling news channel, which soon became a central part of the media landscape.

US President Donald Trump paid tribute to him as "one of the greats of broadcast history, and a friend of mine".

But the channel proved its worth by providing speedy and continuous updates of stories like the assassination attempt on US President Ronald Reagan in 1981, and the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986.

The network truly came of age with its live rolling coverage from Iraq during the 1990-1991 Gulf War.

Within a decade, that station had become the foundation of the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and its boss was one of the biggest media moguls in the US.

He was also known for his brash personality, which earned him the nicknames "the Mouth of the South" and "Captain Outrageous".

Beyond the media, Turner was a world-class yachtsman, winning the America's Cup in 1977. In 1983, a Murdoch-sponsored yacht collided with Turner's boat in an Australian race, which led Turner to challenge Murdoch to a fist fight.

Turner also owned sport properties including the Atlanta Braves baseball team, Atlanta Hawks basketball team and Atlanta Thrashers ice hockey team.

He also became a major philanthropist, donating $1bn to the United Nations and millions more to environmental causes, and promoted and invested in clean energy.

He was married to actress Jane Fonda from 1991 until 2001.

In 2018, Turner revealed he had Lewy body dementia, a degenerative nerve disease.

"Ted Turner created an unstoppable media revolution for the benefit of all humankind.

Turner's television empire also included the TBS and TNT channels, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network.

He made a short-lived, ill-fated $1.5bn (£1.1bn) acquisition of the MGM film studios in 1985. He went on to buy film and TV companies Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema in the 1990s, before his company merged with Time Warner.

"He was fearless when it came to his corporate overlords, when Time Warner bought him; he was fearless when it came to political leaders who tried to push back on him," Isaacson said.

"He dubbed himself the Mouth of the South. He based the company in Atlanta, not in LA or New York, and he had a vision to bring 24-hour news to the world."

"Nobody really thought it could make inroads here, but it did, and Ted Turner became a kind of godfather of the cable industry.

"He launched Turner Classic Movies, he launched a sports channel, he bought the Atlanta Braves, and then eventually sold his company to Time Warner in a fateful deal that wiped out a lot of his fortune and was seen as something that took his power away in the media.

"So he turned to philanthropy. He said he invested $1bn (£740m) in the United Nations, he created the Goodwill Games in Moscow after the world shunned Moscow for political reasons.