A Fox News cameraman was killed on Monday in the same attack that left the network’s reporter Benjamin Hall injured As they reported near UkraineThe network said on Tuesday that the capital, Kyiv. Fox News said in a statement that cameraman Pierre Zakrewski was killed when the car in which he and Hall were traveling was hit by “incoming fire.”
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, said Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kovchinova was also killed in the attack. Gerashchenko said Kovchinova and Zakrevsky were killed “by artillery fire from the Russian fascist forces”.
“Dreadful news. I’ve worked with Pierre many times all over the world. He has been an absolute treasure. Sends our most sincere prayers to Pierre’s wife and family,” Fox News anchor John Roberts said in a tweet.
Fox News CEO Susan Scott said Zakrzewski, who was based in London, “covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us,” adding that his “passion and talent as a journalist were unparalleled.” for him “.
“He was deeply committed to telling the story, and his courage, professionalism and work ethic were famous among journalists in every media,” Scott said.
“Pierre Zakrevsky was an absolute legend on this network and his loss is devastating,” Fox News anchor Bill Hammer said on air on Tuesday. Fox chief Jay Wallace was quoted as saying that other employees “always felt an extra sense of reassurance when they got to the scene and saw that Pierre was there.”
“He was a professional, he was a journalist, he was a friend,” Hummer said. “Here at Fox News we want to offer our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family. Pierre Zakrewski was only 55 years old, and we really miss him.”
Pierre Zakrzewski / AP
Just last year, the network honored Zakrzewski with Fox News Media Spotlight Awardwhich aims to honor “extraordinary employees who go above and beyond in and out of the workplace”.
Fox’s statement did not provide an update on the condition of Hall, whose reporter was injured in the same attack, but he remained in hospital on Tuesday.
Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement she was “deeply saddened” by the reports of Zakryowski and Kovshinova’s deaths.
“Reporting this war is a vital public service and has already claimed the lives of at least two other journalists in just a few weeks,” she said. “Ukrainian and Russian authorities must do everything in their power to ensure the safety of all journalists, and conduct a thorough investigation into attacks on the press.”
On Monday, the network confirmed that Hall was “injured while news gathering outside Kyiv, Ukraine.”
Scott said in a Monday memo to staff that the network has “a minimum amount of detail at this time, but Ben is in the hospital and our teams on the ground are working to gather additional information as the situation rapidly evolves.”
News of the attack on the Fox crew came just a day after American journalist Brent Reno was exposed shot dead in Ukraine. The commander of the Kyiv regional police force said that Russian forces were killed and another journalist was wounded in the town of Irbin outside the capital Kyiv while they were traveling to photograph refugees.
The president of the US State Department Correspondents Association, Sean Tandon, said he was “horrified” by the news of Hall’s injury.
“We know Ben for his warmth, humor and utmost professionalism,” Tandon said in a statement. “We wish Ben a speedy recovery and call for maximum efforts to protect journalists who are providing an invaluable service through their coverage in Ukraine.”
hall Recent headlines to reprimand Greg Gutfeld, co-host of Fox News’ political talk show “The Five”, after saying on air that the reports from Ukraine are “much like other stories we’ve experienced in the digital age in which a picture is taken and then played over and over again to create Kind of an emotional response from you, because that makes a profit for the news companies.”
“This is not the media trying to elicit some emotional response,” Hall said. “That’s definitely what’s going on.”
“It is an absolute disaster,” he added. “And the people caught in the middle are the ones who really suffer.”
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