Peter Arnett, the defiant New Zealand-born journalist who stared down bombs and official pressure to bring the world raw, unfiltered accounts of war from Vietnam to Iraq, has died aged 91. His son, Andrew Arnett, confirmed he passed away in California on Wednesday, following a battle with prostate cancer.

For Kenyans and the world, Arnett’s death closes a chapter on a type of journalism forged in the fire of conflict—a relentless pursuit of the ground truth, no matter the risk. His work underscored the vital role of a free press in holding power to account, a principle that remains critically important across East Africa and beyond.

A Career Defined by Courage

Arnett first etched his name into journalistic history covering the Vietnam War for the Associated Press (AP). His thirteen years of frontline reporting, from the early U.S. advisory period to the fall of Saigon in 1975, earned him the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1966. His dispatches often contradicted the optimistic official narratives from Washington, leading President Lyndon B. Johnson to unsuccessfully pressure the AP to remove him.

One of his most enduring legacies from that era was reporting a U.S. major's grim assessment of the battle for Bến Tre in 1968: "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." This single quote captured the brutal contradictions of the war for a generation.

The Voice from Baghdad

While respected in newsrooms for his print work, Arnett became a global household name in 1991. As coalition bombs began to fall on Baghdad during the first Gulf War, Arnett, along with colleagues Bernard Shaw and John Holliman, broadcast live and exclusively for CNN from their hotel room as air raid sirens wailed. While other news outlets fled, the "Boys of Baghdad" stayed, catapulting the fledgling 24-hour news network to global prominence.

His unfiltered reports from behind enemy lines, including a controversial interview with Saddam Hussein, were a turning point in media history, demonstrating the power of live, on-the-ground television coverage. This work, however, also drew sharp criticism from some U.S. officials who labelled him a conduit for Iraqi propaganda.

A Legacy of Controversy and Conviction

Arnett's career was not without missteps. He was fired by NBC in 2003 after giving an interview to state-run Iraqi television in which he stated the initial U.S. war plan had failed due to Iraqi resistance. Years earlier, in 1998, he was reprimanded and later left CNN after narrating a retracted report that alleged the U.S. military used sarin nerve gas on American defectors in Laos.

Despite these controversies, friends and colleagues remember him as one of the most courageous correspondents of the 20th century. He was the first Western journalist to interview Osama bin Laden in 1997 and authored a widely praised memoir, "Live from the Battlefield."

Peter Arnett’s legacy is a testament to the essential, often dangerous, work of bearing witness. His life's work remains a benchmark for journalists navigating the complexities of conflict and truth.