Peter Arnett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Peter Arnett
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Arnett in 1996
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| Born |
Peter Gregg Arnett
13 November 1934 Riverton, New Zealand
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| Occupation | Journalist, anchorman |
| Years active | 1960−present |
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Notable credit(s)
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Awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietnam |
| Spouse(s) | Nina Nguyen (separated 1983) |
| Children | 2 |
Peter Arnett is a famous journalist who was born in New Zealand and later became an American citizen. He is well-known for reporting from major conflicts like the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Peter Arnett won the Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for his brave reporting from Vietnam between 1962 and 1965. He mostly worked for the Associated Press news agency during that time.
Arnett also worked for National Geographic magazine. Later, he joined several TV networks, spending almost 20 years at CNN. He wrote a book about his experiences called Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad, 35 Years in the World's War Zones. In 1997, Arnett even interviewed Osama bin Laden, who was the leader of Al-Qaeda.
Contents
Early Life and First Jobs
Peter Arnett was born in 1934 in a town called Riverton, in New Zealand. His very first job as a journalist was at a newspaper called The Southland Times.
Reporting in Southeast Asia
In his early career, Arnett worked in Southeast Asia, often based in Bangkok. In 1960, he started his own small English newspaper in Laos. Eventually, he traveled to Vietnam. This was after the French had left Vietnam, following their defeat by North Vietnamese forces.
Reporting on the Vietnam War
Peter Arnett became a reporter for the Associated Press in Saigon, South Vietnam. He reported during the years when the United States started getting involved in the conflict.
Challenges for Reporters
On July 7, 1963, Arnett was hurt during a fight between Western journalists and undercover police. The reporters were trying to cover Buddhist protests against the South Vietnamese government. His articles, like "Death of Supply Column 21," made the American government unhappy. The U.S. was sending more troops to the region at the time.
Arnett went on many missions with soldiers. This included the Battle of Hill 875 in November 1967. He wrote about ordinary soldiers and civilians in a very direct way. This often led to criticism from government officials. They wanted the war news to sound more positive.
Famous Quote from the War
One of Arnett's most famous reports was on February 7, 1968, about the Battle of Bến Tre. He wrote, "'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,' a United States major said today." This quote later became more widely known as, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." The exact words and who said them have been debated over the years. Arnett always said it came from an American major he interviewed.
Last Reporter in Saigon
Arnett was one of the last Western reporters to stay in Saigon when it fell to the People's Army of Vietnam. The soldiers who took over the city even showed him how they had entered.
He also wrote the script for a 26-part TV documentary series called Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War in 1980.
Covering the Gulf War
From 1981 to 1999, Peter Arnett worked for CNN. During the Gulf War in 1991, he became famous worldwide. He was the only reporter broadcasting live from Baghdad, Iraq, especially during the first 16 hours of the war. His reports often had the sounds of air raid sirens and bombs exploding in the background.
Live from Baghdad
Arnett, along with two other CNN journalists, Bernard Shaw and John Holliman, provided continuous live coverage from Baghdad. This lasted for the first 16 intense hours of the war. CNN was the only news channel with a special phone line to the outside world. This allowed them to broadcast Arnett's calls live for hours. Soon, other journalists left Iraq, leaving Arnett as the only reporter there.
His reports about damage to civilian areas were not popular with the military. Officials had been saying that "smart bombs" would keep civilian harm to a minimum. Some people in the White House even said Arnett was being used by Iraq to spread false information.
Interview with Saddam Hussein
Two weeks into the war, Arnett got an exclusive interview with Saddam Hussein, who was the leader of Iraq. Because of Arnett's reporting from the "other side," the Gulf War was the first war to be broadcast live on TV for five weeks.
About halfway through the war, people from the CIA contacted Arnett. They thought the Iraqi military was using a secret communication network in the basement of the Al-Rashid Hotel. This was the hotel where Arnett and other CNN staff were staying. The CIA wanted him to leave so the Air Force could bomb the hotel. But Arnett refused, saying he had toured the hotel and saw no such facility.
Interview with Osama Bin Laden
In March 1997, Arnett interviewed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, for CNN. Bin Laden had just announced a "jihad" (holy war) against the United States. When Arnett asked about his future plans, Bin Laden replied, "You'll see them and hear about them in the media, God willing."
Controversy and Departure from CNN
In 1998, Arnett narrated a report for a CNN and Time magazine show called NewsStand. The report was about a military operation in Laos in 1970.
The report claimed that the United States Army had used a dangerous chemical agent against American soldiers who had left their unit. This claim caused a lot of debate. The Pentagon ordered its own report, which disagreed with CNN's story. CNN then did its own investigation. They found that the journalism in their report was "flawed" and took the story back. It was confirmed that no such chemical was used.
Because of the problems with the report, several people involved were fired or resigned. Arnett was criticized and left CNN in April 1999.
Reporting on the 2003 Iraq Invasion
In 2003, Arnett went to Iraq to cover the U.S. invasion for NBC and National Geographic. After a press meeting, he gave an interview to Iraqi state TV on March 31, 2003.
In the interview, he said that America was "re-appraising the battlefield, delaying the war against Iraq, maybe a week, and re-writing the war plan. The first plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance; now they are trying to write another war plan." He also said that his reports about civilian casualties and Iraqi resistance were helping those in the U.S. who opposed the war.
Reaction to the Interview
Arnett's comments caused a lot of anger. NBC first defended him, saying his comments were just his professional thoughts. However, a day later, NBC, MSNBC, and National Geographic all ended their work with Arnett. NBC stated that it was wrong for him to give an interview to state-controlled Iraqi TV during wartime.
Arnett admitted, "My stupid misjudgment was to spend fifteen minutes in an impromptu interview with Iraqi television." He said he was just talking about what everyone knew about the war's delays and surprises.
Later that day, Arnett was hired by a British newspaper, The Daily Mirror, which was against the war. He also got work from Greek and Belgian TV channels.
Later Career and Recognition
After retiring from field reporting in 2007, Peter Arnett moved to Los Angeles.
He also teaches journalism at Shantou University in China. In New Zealand, a journalism school was named after him at the Southern Institute of Technology. This school closed in 2015.
Personal Life
In 1964, Arnett married Nina Nguyen. They had two children, Elsa and Andrew. Nina and Peter separated in 1983 and divorced many years later. However, they got back together in 2006.
His daughter, Elsa Arnett, also became a journalist. She worked for The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. She helped her father write his 1994 book about his reporting life.
In 2007, Peter Arnett was given an award called the Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his important work in journalism.
Selected Books
- Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad: 35 Years in the World's War Zones. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.
- Saigon Has Fallen: A Wartime Recollection by the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist. New York: Rosetta Books/Associated Press, 2015.
See also
In Spanish: Peter Arnett para niños
- CNN controversies
- List of New Zealand television personalities
