Ted Turner: Murdoch ‘Going to Have to Step Down’

Billionaire Ted Turner said News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch will probably have to leave the helm of his media company after a phone-hacking scandal that began at one of its newspapers.

“I think he’s going to have to step down,” Turner said. “He hadn't survived anything like this. This is serious.” Murdoch’s statements that he didn't know about phone-hacking or police payments aren't sufficient, Turner said. “Well, he should have known,” said Turner, who sold his Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting, owner of CNN, TBS and the Cartoon Network, to Time Warner in 1996. “He was chairman of the board. He’s responsible. I took responsibility when I ran my company. You never heard me say, ‘Well, I didn't know.’”