Introduction: Amir Dossal, Executive Director, United Nations Office for Partnerships
Featuring: Ted Turner, Chairman, United Nations Foundation; Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times
Panel summary by Mary Kate Nevin, World Policy Journal
Lunch began with a message from Ban Ki-Moon. Amir Dossal, executive director for the UN Office for Partnerships, spoke of behalf of the UN secretary-general, who reached out to the GCLS to forge “a new multilateralism that delivers.” He urged continued action on the Millennium Development Goals as their target date of 2015 looms ever closer, and warned that “a new crisis” involving the near-poor is spreading.
He also introduced the UN’s Global Impact and Vulnerability Alert System (GIVAS) as a networked, twenty-first-century system to monitor the global impacts of the financial crisis in real time. Finally, he called for cooperation at December’s summit in Copenhagen on climate change. “These and other problems transcend national borders; so too must solutions,” Ban said. “I will look to you to press your leaders for action.”
After delivering Ban’s message, Dossal turned to the man of the hour—esteemed media mogul, innovator, and philanthropist Ted Turner. He told of his first interactions with Turner, recounting how he once came to the UN with a billion dollar offer. Turner’s net worth had gone up by $1b in the past year, and since the United States had been stingy in its international obligations, he had offered to pay on its behalf (intending, by the way, to later sue the U.S. government). “Kofi Annan nearly fell off his chair,” Dossal declared. The UN at the time could not legally accept private donations, so they worked together to create the UN Foundation, a public charity that supports UN causes and activities. “You have changed the mothership,” Dossal said to Turner. “Thank you.”
Chrystia Freeland, U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times, then proceeded to interview Turner on the role of the media in the age of globalization. Turner, who founded cable television networks CNN and TBS, extolled the virtues of a diverse media, saying that “in a pluralistic, democratic society, I think we are best served by having a competitive media that appeals to lots of different people.” He expressed his concerns with “the demise of newspapers,” noting, “Who’s going to pay to gather the news?” Turner also worries about Americans’ lack of interest in global news. In his tenure at CNN, he explained, he has tried to provide as much international coverage as possible, but “the further away the news, the less interested [people are]…. We need to be informed. There’s never been a time in our history when humanity needed better information.”
Freeland then turned the conversation to Turner’s work at the UN Foundation, which encompasses such broad mandates as nuclear proliferation, global health, and sustainable development. An area of particular interest to Turner is climate change, and he urged immediate and collective action. “The thing the whole world needs to do is move away from coal and oil. We need to use natural gas as a transition fuel to clean solar, geothermal, wind, and some of the other technologies. It’s time to say goodbye to the fossil fuel age,” he said. One way to do this, Turner suggested, would be to phase out subsidies offered to the fossil fuel industry. Instead, these subsidies could go towards clean power, as well as a “new smart grid to move the power around.” Plus, the money that would be spent in revamping America’s power grid would “provide a lot of jobs and help us escape this recession.”
Turner’s other project is the UN’s polio initiative; following lunch, he raced off to a meeting with Saudi officials to work out the logistics of that nation’s $30 million commitment to the cause. Although much of the world has extinguished the threat of this childhood disease, it is still rampant in much of the Muslim world, and his organization is working diligently to eradicate it. “If we do eradicate it,” he said, “it will only be the second disease we’ve ever eradicated; smallpox was the other one. It will be a great win for humanity.”
America’s perceived return to multilateralism will certainly be instrumental in achieving these noble goals. “I think [Obama] is off to a pretty good start,” Turner said. “[I’m optimistic] because we do have global networks.” In order to follow through on its pledges of cooperation, however, the Obama administration must learn to multitask better, said Turner. “I did CNN and the Cartoon Network at the same time—I don’t know why it can’t do health care and climate change,” Turner quipped. “Hell we gotta do more than two things at once.”
Underlying Turner’s overall vision is a sense of resolute urgency. “The next 20-50 years is going to determine whether civilization makes it or not,” Turner predicted. “I’m absolutely convinced we’re facing the greatest crises we’ve ever faced.” His solution? A refreshingly candid response: “Stop doing the dumb things and start doing the smart things. It’s pretty simple: Don’t be stupid.”