Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Peter Arnett Dead at 91

Peter Arnett, a renowned journalist whose coverage of multiple conflicts earned him a Pulitzer Prize, has died at 91.

Arnett died in Newport Beach, California, on Wednesday. His daughter, Elsa, confirmed the news to The New York Times ... she said the cause of death was prostate cancer.

Arnett was originally from New Zealand. He dropped out of high school before starting his work as a journalist, which eventually led him to a position with the Associated Press.

Arnett began his work in war zones in 1960, when he wrote about a coup in Laos and reportedly swam across the Mekong River to neighboring Thailand in order to get his story published.

He later started covering the Vietnam War and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966 for his coverage of the conflict.

Arnett joined CNN in 1981 and reported on conflicts all over the world. His work in the Middle East, which began in 1991 and saw him interviewing figures like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, brought him further acclaim as a journalist.

Arnett left CNN in 1999, and he was fired by NBC and National Geographic for taking part in an interview on Iraqi state television.

He retired as a reporter in 2007 and later taught journalism at Shantou University in China. He published two memoirs based on his experiences in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Arnett was 91 years old.