Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured in Ukraine on Monday while reporting outside Kiev and has been hospitalized, the network said.
Fox News executives said they had little information about the nature of the journalist’s injuries. Mr Hall, 39, is a longtime war correspondent who has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and other countries. He joined Fox News in 2015 and became a State Department correspondent for the network last year.
“We have a minimal level of detail at this point, but Ben is in the hospital and our on-site teams are working to gather additional information as the situation quickly unfolds,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott wrote in a statement. a memo to employees.
“The safety of our entire team of journalists in Ukraine and the surrounding regions is our top priority and paramount. This is a grim reminder for all the journalists who risk their lives every day to bring the news out of a war zone.”
On Sunday, American filmmaker and journalist Brent Renaud, 50, was shot dead while reporting in a suburb of Kiev. The suburb had been the target of intense shelling by Russian troops.
President Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, acknowledged Mr. Hall’s injuries during a press conference at the White House on Monday. “Our thoughts, the thoughts of the President, the thoughts of our administration are with him, his family and all of you at Fox News,” Ms Psaki told Fox correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.
The State Department Correspondents’ Association also released a statement saying its members were “shocked” when they learned of Mr Hall’s injuries. “We wish Ben a speedy recovery and call for all-out efforts to protect journalists who are invaluable through their coverage in Ukraine,” wrote the group’s chairman, Shaun Tandon, who is the State Department’s correspondent for Agence France Presse.
Mr Hall, who is a dual citizen of Great Britain and the United States, was based in London before moving to Washington last year. His war reporting included being embedded with soldiers across Africa and the Middle East. He is also the author of a history of the Islamic State, “Inside ISIS: The Brutal Rise of a Terrorist Army.”
Fox News has five correspondents in Ukraine covering the Russian invasion, including Mr. hello. The network released the first on-air report that one of its correspondents had been injured. “This is news that we don’t like to pass on to you, but it’s clear what sometimes happens in the middle of a conflict,” said presenter John Roberts.
