Anderson Cooper expressed his relief at the release of NBC News' Richard Engel from the hands of Syrian captors on Tuesday and opened up about the dangers of his job, calling kidnapping his "greatest fear."
Engel and his crew were abducted after entering Syria last Thursday. They were freed Monday after a Syrian rebel group attacked their captors. The Huffington Post and other news organizations participated in a media blackout of the story at the request of NBC News, which cited safety concerns.
Speaking on Tuesday's "Anderson Live," Cooper said that he found out about Engel's situation on Friday and called the release of the reporter and his team "amazing news."
When his guest co-host Judy Gold asked about his own safety while reporting, Cooper admitted, "It's something you think about all the time, without a doubt. Kidnapping for me is my greatest fear." He referenced separate cases of reporters being held in an underground prison and being chained to a radiator for years.
"That is something I worry about it and you know, we take precautions and you do the best you can, but it's a concern," Cooper said. "Reporters are much more targets now than ever before and we're able to broadcast now from places where you couldn't before."
He continued, "I've lost a lot of friends just in the last couple of years reporting... but I think all of us who go overseas and report from conflict zones believe very much in what we do and believe that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are facing these same adversities. And it's part of our job to share that experience with them and document what is happening to them... [Richard Engel's] a greater reporter and I'm just very happy that he and his team are doing okay."
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