People, Positions and Obituaries · 19 December 2025
Peter Arnett, Pulitzer-winning war reporter, dies aged 91
Exam-focused facts from the 19 December 2025 current affairs briefing.
Key facts
- Peter Arnett, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and war correspondent, died surrounded by family and friends in California while receiving hospice care for prostate cancer.
- Arnett won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1966 for his Vietnam War coverage while working for the Associated Press (AP).
- He joined Cable News Network (CNN) in 1981 and became known for reporting on the first Gulf War from Baghdad, where he interviewed then-president Saddam Hussein.
- In 1997, Arnett became the first Western journalist to interview Osama Bin Laden at a secret hideout in Afghanistan.
- Arnett was dismissed by National Broadcasting Company (NBC) after giving an interview on Iraqi state television that was viewed as critical of United States military strategy, and was hired by the Daily Mirror the same day.