Photo: SERGEY BOBOK / AFP / Getty Images
A Fox News cameraman was killed Monday in the same attack that wounded the network’s correspondent, Benjamin Hall, while reporting near the Ukrainian capital, kyiv.
Fox News reported that cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski was killed when the vehicle he and Hall were traveling in “was hit by fire”.
BREAKING NEWS: Fox News CEO, Suzanne Scott announced, Tuesday, that the cameraman who had traveled with injured reporter Benjamin Hall, Pierre Zakrzewski has died in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/zOyay79mXu— Redline News ( @redlinenewsnet) March 15, 2022
According to CNN, the Zelensky government has reported that the Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova also died in the same attack.
With Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova, there are already at least five journalists who have died in the Ukrainian conflict, as reported by the Human Rights Commissioner of the Ukrainian Parliament, Liudmyla Denisova, who has blamed the Russian troops for these events.
“I have worked with Pierre many times all over the world. He was an absolute treasure,” Fox News host John Roberts said in a tweet, offering prayers to his colleague’s family.
Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said Zakrzewski, who was based in London, had “covered almost every international Fox News story from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria in his long tenure with us,” adding that “his passion and talent as a journalist were second to none.”
“He was deeply committed to telling the story and his courage, professionalism and work ethic were recognized among journalists in all media,” said Scott.
“Pierre Zakrzewski was an absolute legend on this network and his loss is devastating” , Fox News host Bill Hemmer said on the air Tuesday.
He quoted Fox president Jay Wallace as saying the rest of staff “I always felt an extra sense of calm when they arrived at the scene and saw that Pierre was there”.
“He was a professional, he was a journalist and he was a friend”, he said Hemmer.
“Here at Fox News Channel we want to offer our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family. Pierre Zakrzewski was only 79 years old and we already miss him”.
Just last year, the network honored Zakrzewski with a FOX News Media Spotlight Award, which gave managers the opportunity to recognize “extraordinary employees who go above and beyond, inside and outside from the workplace.”
Fox’s statement offered no update on the condition of Hall, his correspondent wounded in the same attack, who remained hospitalized on Tuesday.
On Monday, the network reported that Hall “was injured while investigating news on the outskirts of kyiv, Ukraine.”
Scott said in a Monday memo to employees that the network had a “minimum level of detail at this time, but Ben is hospitalized and our teams on the ground are working to gather additional information as that the situation develops fast
The news of the attack on the Fox team came just one day after another American journalist, Brent Renaud, was shot dead in Ukraine.
The head of the kyiv regional police said that Renaud was killed and another journalist was wounded by Russian forces in the city of Irpin, on the outskirts of the capital of kyiv, when they were traveling to filming the refugees.
State Department Correspondents Association President Shaun Tandon said he was “appalled” by the news of Hall’s injury.
“We know Ben for his warmth, good humor and utmost professionalism,” Tandon said in a statement. “We wish Ben a speedy recovery and call for maximum efforts to protect journalists who provide an invaluable service through their coverage in Ukraine.”
Read more
Russia passes law to seize foreign aircraft remaining in the country
Russian journalist who showed a poster on TV to protest the invasion of Ukraine was reported missing
“It is a difficult and dangerous moment”: the bombing of kyiv intensifies with attacks on residential buildings