TV war moves to Afghanistan
The bitter rivalry between two US TV news channels has spread to Afghanistan, where a veteran CNN correspondent stationed with forces fighting the Taliban abruptly switched networks.
Steve Harrigan told CNN he was leaving on Saturday and by Sunday morning was delivering reports via videophone from Afghanistan on Fox News Channel.
‘‘It’s a competitive world out there and it’s very important that we have someone in Afghanistan,’’ said Roger Ailes, Fox News Channel chief executive.
‘‘He just happened to work at CNN 24 hours ago.’’
Harrigan got a multi-year contract with a significant pay rise, said Harrigan’s agent, Steven Herz.
It was something of a retaliatory strike, since CNN recently signed anchor Paula Zahn away from Fox. She’s become one of CNN’s prime anchors from New York in the aftermath of the 11 terrorist attacks.
Fox News Channel, which can’t match CNN in overseas resources, had nobody stationed in Afghanistan until signing Harrigan, a veteran war correspondent who speaks Russian fluently.
Fox News Channel has been steadily gaining in the ratings against CNN over the past few years, often winning in prime-time.
