Peter Arnett, Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent, dies aged 91
Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist renowned for spending decades reporting from the front lines of global conflicts, has died at the age of 91, News.Az reports, citing CNN.
His career took him from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq, delivering firsthand accounts of war to audiences around the world.
Arnett, who received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of the Vietnam War with The Associated Press, died Wednesday in Newport Beach, according to his son, Andrew Arnett. He was surrounded by friends and family. Arnett had entered hospice care on Saturday while battling prostate cancer.
During much of his time as a wire-service correspondent, Arnett was best known within journalistic circles, particularly for his reporting from Vietnam between 1962 and the end of the war in 1975. He later became a familiar name to the wider public in 1991 when he delivered live television reports for CNN during the first Gulf War.
As most Western journalists left Baghdad in the days leading up to the U.S.-led military offensive, Arnett chose to remain in the Iraqi capital. When missiles began striking the city, he provided live, real-time coverage by cellphone from his hotel room, offering viewers a rare eyewitness perspective as the conflict unfolded.
“There was an explosion right near me, you may have heard,” he said in a calm, New Zealand-accented voice moments after the loud boom of a missile strike rattled across the airwaves. As he continued to speak air-raid sirens blared in the background.
“I think that took out the telecommunications center,” he said of another explosion. “They are hitting the center of the city.”
It was not the first time Arnett had gotten dangerously close to the action.
Arnett is survived by his wife and their children, Elsa and Andrew.
Similar news
