A Fox News cameraman was killed Monday in the same attack that wounded network correspondent Benjamin Hall while they were reporting near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the network said Tuesday. Fox News said in a statement that cameraman Pierre Zakszewski was killed when the car he and Hall were traveling in “was struck by incoming fire.”
“I have worked with Pierre many times around the world. He was an absolute treasure,” Fox News host John Roberts said in a tweet while offering prayers to his colleague’s family.
According to Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ukrainian journalist Aleksandra Kuvshinova also died in the attack. Gerashchenko said that Kuvshinova and Zakshevsky were killed by “artillery fire from Russian fascist troops.”
Terrible news: Fox cameraman Pierre Zakszewski was killed in the same attack that wounded correspondent Benjamin Hall. I have worked with Pierre many times around the world. He was an absolute treasure. We send our most sincere prayers to Pierre’s wife and family.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) March 15, 2022
Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said Zakszewski, who lives in London, “during his long tenure with us covered almost every international story for Fox News, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria,” adding that “his passion and talent as a journalist were incomparable.”
“He was deeply committed to telling this story, and his courage, professionalism and work ethic were renowned among journalists across all media,” Scott said.
“Pierre Zakszewski was an absolute legend on this network and his loss is devastating,” Fox News host Bill Hemmer said on air Tuesday. He quoted Fox president Jay Wallace as saying that other employees “always felt extra reassured when they arrived on the scene and saw Pierre was there.”
“He was a professional, a journalist and a friend,” Hemmer said. “We here at Fox News want to express our deepest condolences to Pierre’s wife, Michelle, and his entire family. Pierre Zakszewski was only 55 years old and we already miss him.”
A file photo provided by Fox News shows network operator Pierre Zakszewski (left) with colleagues. A veteran journalist was killed in an attack that injured correspondent Benjamin Hall in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 14, the American network reported. Courtesy of Fox News
Just last year, the network honored Zakszewski with the FOX News Media Spotlight Award, which she says gives managers the opportunity to recognize “outstanding employees who go the extra mile, both in and out of the workplace.”
The Fox statement did not provide an update on Hall’s condition, their correspondent was injured in the same attack, but he remained in the hospital on Tuesday.
On Monday, the network confirmed that Hall “was injured during a news gathering outside of Kyiv in Ukraine.”
Scott said in a staff memo on Monday that the network is at “minimum level of detail right now, but Ben is hospitalized and our teams on the ground are working to gather more information as the situation rapidly evolves.”
News of the attack on a Fox crew came just a day after fellow American journalist Brent Renault was shot dead in Ukraine. The head of the Kiev regional police said that Renault was killed and another journalist was wounded by Russian troops in the town of Irpen near Kiev while they were on their way to film refugees.
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State Department Correspondents Association President Sean Tandon said he was “horrified” by the news of Hall’s injury.
“We know Ben for his warmth, good humour, and professionalism,” Tandon said in a statement. “We wish Ben a speedy recovery and urge him to make every effort to protect the journalists who are doing an invaluable service by covering events in Ukraine.”
Hall recently made headlines for chiding Greg Gatfield, co-host of the Fox News political talk show The Five, after he said on air that reporting from Ukraine “is very similar to other stories through which we gone into the digital age where an image is taken and then played back over and over again to evoke some kind of emotional response in you, because that’s what makes news companies profitable.”
“This is not the media trying to evoke some kind of emotional response,” Hall said. “That’s absolutely what’s happening.”
“This is an absolute disaster,” he added. “And the people who are caught in the middle really suffer.”
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