CNN Names Jessica Yellin Chief White House Correspondent

By Alex Weprin 

CNN has named Jessica Yellin chief White House correspondent, replacing Ed Henry, who left the cabler to join Fox News Channel. Yellin has served as national political correspondent for CNN since January, 2009, and begins her new assignment immediately.

This won’t be Yellin’s first White House tour. She has previously served as a White House correspondent for ABC News.

“Jessica Yellin has emerged as one of the leading political reporters in Washington, ” said CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist. “Jessica’s assertiveness along with her clever insight made her one of the top reporters of the 2008 campaign and has already set her apart in her reporting on the 2012 campaign. We’re thrilled Jessica will now bring her outstanding political journalism to our White House coverage.”

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More information in the CNN announcement, after the jump.

CNN Names Jessica Yellin Chief White House Correspondent

Jessica Yellin will join CNN’s White House unit, it was announced today by Sam Feist, Washington bureau chief and senior vice president. Yellin begins her new assignment as chief White House correspondent immediately.

“Jessica Yellin has emerged as one of the leading political reporters in Washington, ” said Feist. “Jessica’s assertiveness along with her clever insight made her one of the top reporters of the 2008 campaign and has already set her apart in her reporting on the 2012 campaign. We’re thrilled Jessica will now bring her outstanding political journalism to our White House coverage.”

“This is a dream assignment,” said Yellin. “I’m honored CNN is putting its faith in me and humbled by the responsibility of covering the White House during these challenging times—and as we head into an election. I look forward to providing our viewers an honest assessment of the policies and the politics that affect our lives everyday.”

Since January 2009, Yellin has served as national political correspondent, covering important stories on politics, policy and culture for various CNN programs, including The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and John King, USA. In that role based in Washington, D.C., Yellin traveled the country, reporting on breaking political news, as well as political trends and happenings that impact Americans outside the nation’s capital. Yellin joined CNN as a Capitol Hill correspondent in August 2007.

As a member of the Peabody Award-winning Best Political Team on Television, Yellin’s reporting was prominent throughout the network’s 2008 and 2010 ‘America Votes’ election coverage. During the 2008 campaign, she traveled throughout the battleground states to cover key races and conduct interviews with the candidates. Yellin has also covered significant policy debates, including the push to reform the financial regulatory system. In 2010, she won a Gracie Award for her reporting on the intersection of women and politics.

Prior to CNN, Yellin was a White House correspondent for ABC News. She began with ABC in July 2003 and reported on politics and culture for such programs as World News, Good Morning America and Nightline. She has interviewed Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush. She has also reported from around the globe, including Russia, China, Europe, Latin America and Mongolia.

Prior to joining ABC News, Yellin was an overnight anchor and correspondent for MSNBC. She covered the 2000 recount in Florida as a general assignment reporter at WTVT-TV in Tampa. She began her broadcast career in 1998 as a general assignment reporter for Orlando’s 24-hour cable news channel, Central Florida News 13. In 1999, she was named morning anchor.

Yellin’s work has been published in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Details and Entertainment Weekly. She was also a Los Angeles-based reporter for George Magazine.

Yellin graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

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