Jeffrey Dean Zeleny (born June 10, 1973) is an American journalist and the chief national affairs correspondent for CNN. He previously was senior Washington correspondent for ABC News. During his newspaper career, he won a Pulitzer Prize with the Chicago Tribune.
Jeffrey Dean Zeleny was born on June 10, 1973, in Exeter, Nebraska,[1][2] the son of Diane Naomi (née 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, with most of his ancestors coming from Bohemia and some from Moravia.[3]Zeleny is the Czech word for "green."
Zeleny was educated at Exeter High School,[5] a public high school in the small town of Exeter, Nebraska. As a student, he contributed sports stories to the York News-Times in neighboring York County.
In 2006, The New York Times hired him to cover politics, and he covered the 2012 presidential election for the paper, while being its lead reporter.[2][6] At President Barack Obama'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.[11]
Zeleny was hired in February 2013 by ABC News to be its senior Washington correspondent and to file stories for the website.[2]
Zeleny was honored by The Stuttering Foundation in May 2013.[12]
He joined CNN in March 2015, and in January 2017 was named Senior White House Correspondent.[13] In January 2021, Zeleny was named Chief National Affairs Correspondent.
