Jason Bellini

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Bellini during his time reporting for CNN.

Jason Bellini is an American journalist, currently the lead news anchor for Logo. He received the 2006 "Journalist of the Year" award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA). From 1998 to 2005, he worked as a CNN correspondent. He produced stories for CNN using an unconventional method: He hit the road on assignment with a hand-held digital camera and a laptop computer, which he used for editing. He often worked as a "one-man band," filing stories he produced himself from start to finish.

[edit] Professional career

1993: Bellini graduated from Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona where he was on the school Newspaper. He was a participant in the Hall of Friendship, an organization dedicated to cross cultural understanding between the Newspaper Staff and Foreign Exchange Students.

1997: Bellini earned a bachelor's degree in history from Georgetown University.

1998: Bellini began his career with CNN as a production assistant in the network's Washington, D.C., bureau.

1999: Bellini made his on-air debut with CNN Newsroom, now CNN Student News – CNN's news program for high school students. He also served as a field producer for CNN International, covering the NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia. One of his Kosovo stories achieved Medalist Status in the 1999 New York Festival Awards.

Jason Bellini from Logo

2000: Bellini worked for MTV 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.

2001: Bellini spent months in New York covering the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as the crisis evolved into an international war on terrorism. He later traveled to Central Asia to report on the story from Afghanistan. He also covered the Kashmir 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.

2003: Bellini reported as one of CNN's 18 embedded journalists during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He reported, often from the frontlines, 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 tragedy.

2005: Bellini became the lead news anchor for CBS News on Logo.

[edit] Personal life

He is openly gay and is currently dating Will Wikle, of the American reality television show Big Brother 5 fame.

Jason is the older brother of writer Jarrett Bellini.

[edit] Bellini on Bellini

"I usually travel to another city, state or country to cover a news event. Once I get there, I gather information, interview people, and shoot pictures that I can use to prepare a story. It's a bit like going on a field trip and then preparing a report (on video) about it. Usually, the hardest part is taking the several hours of videotape, and the copious pages of notes I've taken, and then deciding what information, pictures and interviews I want to include in my report to make it fair, informative and interesting."

"One thing I do differently from most CNN correspondents is I videotape my stories myself. So, when I'm on a story, I'll normally start the day around 9 AM by grabbing my camera and headingout to interview people and take pictures. Until around 4 or 5 PM I go back to my hotel room, and begin looking at all the video I've shot and begin work on a script for a story. Before I can assemble my report, my script needs to be approved by a senior producer. By 7PM, hopefully, I've begun the editing process -- picking out the best pictures I shot and matching them visually to the words in my story. A two-minute story, believe it or not, typically takes around 3 hours to edit. So by 10PM, hopefully my story would be complete. Then I have to figure out how to get it back to our headquarters in Atlanta so we can get it on the air. That may mean driving to another television station and using their satellite connection. After all of that, I'll probably do some planning for the next day. The point of telling you all this is so you understand TV journalism is not a 9 to 5 profession. A day that starts before 9am and ends after midnight is not uncommon. If you don't love doing it, you'll be miserable."