Jason Bellini (born July 12, 1975) is an American journalist. Since 2012, he has been a correspondent for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. Bellini was a

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

correspondent from 1998 to 2005.

Early life

Bellini and his brother, Jarrett Bellini, were born and raised in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. In 1992, Bellini became a U.S. Senate Page in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

The next year, Bellini graduated from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, where he worked on the school newspaper and became an Eagle Scout. In 1997, Bellini earned a bachelor's degree in history from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Professional career

In 1998, Bellini began his career with CNN as a production assistant and contributor to a news program for middle school and high school students. He also served as a field producer for CNN International, covering the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

airstrikes against Serbian forces in Kosovo. One of his Kosovo stories achieved Medalist Status in the 1999 New York Festival Awards. In 2000, Bellini worked for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

where he served as part of that network's "street team" for MTV's Choose or Lose election coverage that followed the presidential candidates on the campaign trail during Election 2000. He was also a freelance writer for Washingtonpost.com and Channel One News. In 2001 Bellini spent months in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

covering the aftermath of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

as the crisis evolved into an international war on terrorism. He later traveled to Central Asia to report on the story from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. He also covered the

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

conflict from India. Bellini received a gold medal from the New York Festivals for "Jason's Journal: The Holy Land", a program he produced on the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about Territory, land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation ...

. In 2003, Bellini reported as one of CNN's 18 embedded journalists during

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

. He reported, often from the front lines, from his position with the U.S. Marines. In February 2003, Bellini was part of the team of CNN correspondents and anchors that covered the breaking news story of the

Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the Columbia Rediviva, first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the Columbia (personification) ...

tragedy. In 2005, Bellini became the lead news anchor for '' CBS News on Logo''. Until August 2008 was the lead news anchor for CBS News on

Logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

. He received the 2006 "Journalist of the Year" award from the

National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, is an American professional association dedicated to coverage of LGBTQ+ issues in the media. It is based in Washington, D.C., and the membership consists primarily of journalists, students, educators, ...

(NLGJA). In 2008, he was based in Singapore as a correspondent for Bloomberg TV. From 2009 to 2010: Bellini freelanced for ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' and ''The Wall Street Journal.'' In 2012, he produced a

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

documentary, ''UPS/FedEx: Inside the Package Wars''. In 2012, Bellini became a senior producer and reporter at ''

.'' From 2013 to 2014, Bellini was a frequent guest on FOX NEWS' '' On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren''. In 2017, Bellini began hosting and producing a WSJ video series called "Moving Upstream."

Personal life

He is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. Bellini is the older brother of Jarrett Bellini, a writer and journalist. Jason currently lives in Washington, DC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellini, Jason 1975 births Living people American broadcast news analysts American reporters and correspondents American television journalists Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni American LGBTQ journalists American LGBTQ broadcasters American gay writers American male journalists