Fox News sued by family of Ukrainian journalist killed while covering war over ‘reckless and negligent conduct’

Fox was accused of launching “a campaign of material misrepresentations and omissions to hide its own accountability for the disaster and shift blame.”

Fox News is the subject of yet another explosive lawsuit. On the two-year anniversary of the attack in Ukraine that claimed the lives of Fox News photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski and contractor Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, the network was accused Thursday of being culpable for the fatal incident by engaging in “reckless and negligent conduct” that put the crew in harm’s way. The network was also accused of launching “a campaign of material misrepresentations and omissions to hide its own accountability for the disaster and shift blame” to then-security contractor Shane Thomson, who allegedly warned against the crew entering the dangerous zone near Kyiv where they were killed. The lawsuit, filed by Kuvshynova’s parents and Thomson in New York State court, not only named Fox News as a defendant, but also Fox Corporation Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch, Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott, and correspondent Benjamin Hall, who was severely injured in the attack, but survived. Both deaths were announced at the time by Scott, who said the team’s vehicle came under fire as they were reporting. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Ukrainian interior minister, blamed artillery shelling by Russian forces. But the circumstances that led to the 2022 tragedy, the lawsuit stated, were uncovered as part of a sweeping investigation conducted by lawyers for Thomson and Kuvshynova’s parents to get to the bottom of what happened on March 14, 2022. Their probe found that the circumstances that led to the attack were set into motion when the Fox News team disregarded warnings to avoid the Irpin-Hostomel area near Kyiv. The mayor of Irpin had barred journalists from the city and Thomson, the security contractor, had vetoed the idea of reporting from the area, according to the lawsuit. Disregarding such security warnings would be unusual in a war zone and Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, who was also reporting from the area at the time, had indicated days prior to the incident that the network’s journalists were following protocol. Heading to the area was considered so dangerous, the lawsuit said, that the Ukrainian driver who had been working with the Fox News team “refused” to take them there, forcing the crew to “find a different driver.”