She died covering war for Fox News.
asserted
She → die → News
Her parents blame the network — and a star reporter
asserted
parents → blame → network
NPR Ukraine producers Polina Lytvynova and Hanna Palamarenko contributed to this story.
asserted
producers → contribute → story
When the Fox News Channel hosted hundreds of advertisers and industry executives at the ornate Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan two years ago, the network centered attention on a tragic yet heroic figure: the war correspondent Benjamin Hall.
asserted
network → host → figure
"From Ukraine to the Middle East, and here at home, the dedicated journalists of Fox News are trying to inform Americans, even in the most perilous of circumstances," Hall proclaimed.
asserted
Hall → try → circumstances
Hall knows peril all too well.
asserted
Hall → know → peril
In the first weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a strike by Russian forces hit the car in which Hall's team had been traveling outside Kyiv.
asserted
team → hit → Kyiv
Hall had nearly died.
asserted
Hall → die → ?
He lost his right leg below the knee, most of his left foot and part of an eye.
asserted
He → lose → eye
Two years after the attack, Hall stood center stage on prostheses, in a suit that ended just above his knees.
asserted
that → stand → knees
He entered to a standing ovation.
asserted
He → enter → ovation
"These stories, they need eyes on the ground," Hall said.
asserted
Hall → need → ground
"They need a human perspective.
asserted
They → need → perspective
They need us to bear witness.
asserted
us → need → witness
Though gravely injured, Hall was the lucky one.
asserted
Hall → injure → ?
The strike killed all four people who traveled with Hall that day:
The two Ukrainian soldiers who served as guides.
asserted
who → kill → guides
The 24-year-old Ukrainian had just joined the team as a producer and interpreter.
asserted
Ukrainian → join → producer
Fox has described the deaths as tragic and honored the fallen.
asserted
Fox → describe → fallen
Yet two multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the network blame it for what happened.
asserted
what → blame → it
One of those lawsuits has been filed by Kuvshynova's parents, who also squarely blame Hall.
asserted
who → file → Hall
In their first joint interview about the tragedy, they tell NPR they are speaking out to honor their daughter's life and document what they contend is the injustice of her death.
asserted
they → tell → death
Two high-risk security advisers who worked for Fox News in Ukraine bolster the family's claims.
uncertain
who → work → claims
In separate interviews with NPR about what happened, they say Fox News and its star correspondent ignored repeated and urgent warnings to stay away from the danger zone outside the city limits of Kyiv.
asserted
News → happen → Kyiv
"If you took Benji out of the equation, this never would have happened," Aaron King, one of those security advisers, said.
asserted
King → take → advisers
The other adviser, Shane Thomson, has joined the Kuvshynovs' lawsuit, alleging Fox scapegoated him for the tragedy.
asserted
Fox → join → tragedy
This story is based on 15 interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of legal documents, as well as Fox's own broadcasts.
asserted
story → base → documents
Fox News, citing the ongoing litigation, declined NPR's repeated and detailed requests for interviews with Fox officials, news executives and lawyers.
asserted
News → cite → officials
The network also did not make Hall available for interviews for this story.
asserted
Hall → make → story
It additionally declined to respond to specific questions raised for this story.
asserted
It → decline → story
He wrote a memoir, published a year after the attack, in which he acknowledged increasingly embracing risk as his career and ambitions progressed.
asserted
career → write → risk
The same year, he also presented his story in a Fox documentary.
asserted
he → present → documentary
Fox and its founder, Rupert Murdoch, have faced controversies, scandals and litigation before.
asserted
Fox → face → controversies
Often, accusations center on the network's right-wing ideology, Murdoch's own political agenda or their relentless pursuit of profits.
asserted
accusations → center → profits
Two words define the underlying allegations in the Kuvshynovs' wrongful death lawsuit against Fox and Hall: ambition and negligence.
asserted
words → define → Fox
Fox calls the deaths tragic but rejects responsibility
Covering any armed conflict by definition involves peril.
asserted
Covering → call → peril
Combat journalists for many news organizations, including NPR, have been killed.
asserted
journalists → include → NPR
But the Kuvshynovs and their legal team say what happened to their daughter was preventable — and foreseen.
asserted
happened → say → daughter
"This was a very avoidable danger that they were specifically warned about, as to [the] exact time and place that they could not go," charges Stephen Humphreys, a lawyer for the Kuvshynovs and Thomson.
uncertain
Humphreys → warn → Kuvshynovs
In court statements in the Kuvshynovs' suit, Fox acknowledges the tragedy of the deaths of Kuvshynova and Zakrzewski.
asserted
Fox → acknowledge → Kuvshynova
But the network counters the plaintiffs' claims on technical and legal grounds.
uncertain
network → counter → grounds
…and 354 more, not listed.
The Aporia
