Tom Johnson (journalist)

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Wyatt Thomas ("Tom") Johnson is an American journalist and media executive, best known for serving as president of Cable News Network (CNN) during the 1990s and, before that, as publisher of the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

Johnson was born in Macon, Georgia and graduated from Lanier High School. While in high school, he began working at the Macon Telegraph newspaper. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and a master's from Harvard Business School, both of which were largely financed by his employers at the Telegraph. President Lyndon B. Johnson (no relation) tapped Johnson as a White House Fellow, but he accepted only after being encouraged by the Telegraph's publisher and assured he had no further obligation to the paper. ^[1]

He worked in various positions in the Johnson administration and continued to work for the former President after he retired to Texas. After Lyndon Johnson's death, Tom Johnson again moved into journalism, eventually becoming publisher of the Dallas Times Herald in 1975. From there, he moved on to the Los Angeles Times, where he served as president and later publisher during a thirteen-year stint.^[2]

In 1990, Johnson moved from print to television, as CNN founder Ted Turner asked him to serve as president of the news channel. Johnson's first year saw the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War, an event that helped place CNN firmly in the public consciousness. He ran CNN until his retirement in 2001, presiding over both triumphant and controversial moments in the history of the network.^[3]

Johnson later publicly revealed a long battle with depression that he was able to control with medication. Johnson had previously kept the condition private, though he told Turner when he was offered the CNN position.^[4]