Benjamin Hall: State Department vows to do ‘everything’ to help reporter injured in Ukraine

A spokesman for the US State Department vowed that the Biden administration would do “everything possible” to help Benjamin Hall, a Fox News reporter wounded in an attack that killed two other journalists in Ukraine on Monday.

Ned Price told reporters during his daily press briefing on Tuesday that the State Department was in contact with Fox News at “multiple levels” working to ensure Mr Hall’s safety.

“All of us know Ben, we've travelled the world with him. Many of you knew [cameraman] Pierre [Zakrzewski] ... our thoughts are with Pierre's loved ones and his family ... all of us here at the department are rooting for Ben,” said Mr Price, referring to Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrezewski, who the network announced on Tuesday had been killed in the attack.

Ukraine’s government has stated that the vehicle in which the two men and a Ukrainian journalist were travelling were struck by incoming fire near the city of Kyiv, which the Ukrainians have blamed on Russian forces.

“We will do everything we possibly can to help Ben,” Mr Price added on Tuesday, wishing the reporter a speedy recovery.

Few details have been released by Fox News or the US government regarding their understandings of what occurred in the attack that led to Mr Hall’s hospitalisation as well as the deaths of Mr Zakrezewski and Ukrainian reporter Oleksandra Kuvshynova. Mr Hall remains hospitalised in Ukraine, and the extent of his injuries remains unclear.

“Earlier today, our correspondent Benjamin Hall was injured while news gathering outside of Kyiv in Ukraine,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said on Monday.

“We have a minimal level of details right now. Ben is hospitalised and our teams on the ground are working to gather additional information as the situation quickly unfolds. The safety of our entire team of journalists in Ukraine and the surrounding regions is our top priority and of the utmost importance,” she continued.

Ms Scott also released a statement on Tuesday confirming the death of Ms Kuvshynova, who she said was working as a consultant (or “fixer”) for the network in Ukraine. The 24-year-old was described by the Fox CEO as “incredibly talented” and was celebrated for her bravery.

The attack on the Fox News crew came just a day after American journalist Brett Renaud was shot and killed by Russian forces in Irpin while on an assignment for TIME magazine.

Mr Renaud was in a car on route to report on Ukrainian refugees trying to evacuate when the vehicle was ambushed by Vladimir Putin’s troops, according to Ukrainian officials. A second American journalist was also wounded and taken to hospital.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Joe Biden was thinking of Mr Hall on Monday when asked about the situation and the president’s previous pledge to “respond forcefully” if any Americans were harmed in Ukraine.

“Well, let me first say, your colleague, Benjamin Hall, I know there’s not final reports yet or we would wait for your news organization to confirm those but our thoughts, the president’s thoughts, our administration’s thoughts are with him, his family and all of you at Fox News as well,” she said in Monday’s press briefing.

She added that Mr Biden has been “leading the world” in putting “consequences” and “repercussions” in place in the form of crippling economic sanctions.

The Russian foreign ministry has not commented on the incident, and has remained focused in recent days on an attack in the Donbas separatist region that killed roughly two dozen civilians. Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for the attack, which Ukraine’s government has denied.

Russian officials have also accused Ukraine of attacking its own nuclear facilities for the purpose of blaming Russian troops, even as The Wall Street Journal has released a chilling account of the dozens of technicians at the ruined Chernobyl nuclear plant who remain imprisoned and working forced labour at the facility under Russian guard after Moscow’s forces took the region early in its assault.

As the Fox News community mourns the deaths of Mr Zakrzewski and Ms Kuvshynova and prays for Mr Hall’s recovery, some of the networks own hosts have come under fire for promotive misleading narratives about the Russia-Ukraine conflict that increasingly flatter the Kremlin’s version of events.

The most controversial host is Tucker Carlson, whose show is reliably among the most-watched pundit on cable news. Having often questioned before the conflict why anyone in the US should root for Ukraine (a well-established American ally) against Russia (an authoritarian adversary), he has lately helped introduce a conspiracy theory about US-funded and operated biolabs in Ukraine that have supposedly been developing bioweapons.

On Monday, Fox and Friends co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy further scrambled her network’s mixed messages about the conflict by raising the argument that the conflict is in fact the west’s fault.

The host asserted that the US “provoked” Russia by allowing the prospect of Ukraine becoming a member of Nato.

“They made very clear that there was a red line,” she said. “The red line was a neutrality for Ukraine, that they could not enter Nato.” (Ukraine is still not a Nato member.) “And in the end, if they get this peace agreement … that’s probably going to end up being the case anyway.”

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