Jeffrey Dean Zeleny (born June 10, 1973) is an American journalist and the Chief National Affairs Correspondent for

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. He previously was Senior Washington Correspondent for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

. During his newspaper career, he won a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

with the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''.

Early life

Jeffrey Dean Zeleny was born on June 10, 1973, in

Exeter, Nebraska Exeter is a village in Fillmore County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 516 at the 2020 census. History In 1870, Dr. Horace Greeley Smith and his wife filed a homestead claim at the site of present-day Exeter. In an earlier scoutin ...

, the son of Diane Naomi (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Yeck) and Robert Dean Zeleny. He has two older brothers, James Robert Zeleny and Michael Jon Zeleny, and was raised with them on the family farm. His ancestry on both sides of his family is

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

, with most of his ancestors coming from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

and some from

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

. ''Zeleny'' is the Czech word for "green." Zeleny is also openly gay.

Education

Zeleny was educated at Exeter High School, a public high school in the small town of

. As a student, he contributed sports stories to the ''

York News-Times The ''York News-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in York, Nebraska. It is the newspaper of record for York County and surrounding counties in the Rainwater Basin region. Part of Berkshire Hathaway's BH Media Group, the ''News-Times'' is pu ...

'' in neighboring York County. Zeleny attended the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, where he studied journalism and political science. He graduated in 1996. While at the university, he was the editor of the ''

Daily Nebraskan ''The Daily Nebraskan'', established in 1871 as the ''Monthly Hesperian Student'', is the student newspaper of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Although many journalism students are on staff, the ''Daily Nebraskan'' is independent of the uni ...

'', the school's newspaper. He also played trumpet in the University of Nebraska Cornhusker Marching Band.

Career

After interning for newspapers like ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', the ''

Florida Times-Union ''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when th ...

'' and the ''

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of i ...

'' in college, Zeleny started working for ''

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junctio ...

'' in 1996. Although he originally planned to be a sports reporter, the importance of the

Iowa caucuses The Iowa caucuses are biennial electoral events for members of the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Unlike primary elections in most other U.S. states, where registered voters go to polling places to cast ballots, ...

led to him becoming a political specialist. In 2000, he left to write for ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

''. He covered the presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004 for the paper. While at the ''Tribune'', he won the

Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism The Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting has been presented since 1998, for a distinguished example of explanatory reporting that illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear pr ...

for his work on a series about

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

problems nationwide. In 2006, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' hired him to cover politics, and he covered the 2012 presidential election for the paper, while being their lead reporter. At President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's 100-day press conference in April 2009, Zeleny received attention from media blogs for asking President Obama how he was "surprised, troubled, enchanted, and humbled" during his first days in office. Zeleny was hired in February 2013 by

to be their senior Washington correspondent and to file stories for the website. He was honored by The Stuttering Foundation in May 2013. He joined

in March 2015, and in January 2017 was named Senior White House Correspondent. In January 2021, Zeleny was named Chief National Affairs Correspondent.

References

External links

ABC Medianet biographyCNN Press Room press release
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeleny, Jeff 1973 births ABC News personalities CNN people University of Nebraska alumni Living people American people of Bohemian descent American people of Moravian descent American television reporters and correspondents Pulitzer Prize winners American LGBT journalists Gay men