CNN Corespondent Makes a Quick Exit to Fox News

Fox News Channel has hired CNN’s Steve Harrigan, who has been reporting from rebel-held Afghanistan, a key location in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S.

Fox, which didn’t have a reporter in Afghanistan, hired Harrigan on Saturday, took him a videophone in the field--and he filed his first report for the network Sunday morning.

The personnel raid comes just weeks after CNN hired Fox’s Paula Zahn as its morning anchor.

Harrigan, 39, a Moscow-based CNN correspondent since 1991, had been working without a contract since the end of May, said his agent, Steven Herz, president of If Management in New York.

“They put him in a war zone and left him and themselves inadvertently exposed,” said Herz, adding that he had been attempting to get Harrigan a new contract through the summer but only heard back from CNN in a flurry of calls on Friday, when it became apparent Harrigan was going to leave. His contract with Fox is for four years, including renewal options.

CNN has one other correspondent with the Afghan rebels and another on the way.

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes said Sunday that he learned of Harrigan’s status last week and moved immediately. “One of the rules in life is, ‘Don’t put your people in danger if you’re not going to take care of them,”’ he said.