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So far, Turner has concentrated on the business side of CNN, leaving news decisions largely to professional journalists. But some reporters' hackles were raised in mid-May when, after a power struggle,
Turner accepted the resignation of CNN'S first president, Reese Schonfeld, who has spent an estimable career developing alternatives to network news. One cause of the dispute was Schonfeld's decison to fire Interviewer Sandi Freeman, CNN'S most popular performer, who, Schonfeld said, was not a journalist. As soon as Schonfeld resigned, Turner started negotiating to get Freeman back. Turner kept Schonfeld on as a consultant and corporate board member, however, and as replacements he named a committee of key Schonfeld aides: Ed Turner (no relation), Burt Reinhardt and Robert Wussler, a tough-minded former president of CBS-TV. Wussler contends that Ted Turner will continue to stand apart from CNN's day-to-day journalistic operations. Explains Wussler: "He does not have time for it, and he knows that is where he would be most vulnerable to his detractors."
Turner appeared to contradict that hands-off policy in late May when he recorded his first CNN editorial, opposing violence in movies, and had it shown eleven times (plus ten airings on the Superstation). He attacked The Deer Hunter, a Viet Nam War drama, The Warriors, a fictional portrayal of New York City youth gangs, and especially Taxi Driver, the film that allegedly inspired John Hinckley's attempted assassination of President Reagan. Said Turner: "The people responsible for this movie should be just as much on trial as John Hinckley himself ... Write your Congressman and your Senator right away, and tell him that you want something done." Despite the fervor of that Citizen Kane outburst, which renewed speculation that Turner aspires to political office, Turner did not prevent CNN Commentator Daniel Schorr from contradicting him in an on-air reply. Schorr echoed Turner's concerns but opposed congressional action that might conflict with First Amendment guarantees against censorship. There has been no similar on-air performance by Turner since.
The heart of CNN'S day is from 7 p.m. to 10p.m. E.T.: half an hour of business and economic news, followed by half an hour of sports, and then two hours of world and national reports. "A newspaper you can watch" is the way Turner describes it. The format for the rest of the day is much like an extended version of NBC's Today or ABC's Good Morning America: sober and almost impersonal in the hourly news summaries, folksy in such soft segments as Arden Zinn's exercise class and Dr. Steve Kritsick's advice on pet care, downright gossipy in the late-night hour of Hollywood chitchat by longtime