Ben Wedeman Biography
Ben Wedeman is an American Emmy award-winning correspondent and reporter working at CNN. He joined the network in August 2009. He serves as a senior international correspondent.
Ben Wedeman Age
Wedeman is 61 years old as of 2021. He was born on September 1, 1960, United States. He celebrates his birthday on the 1st of September every year.
Ben Wedeman Height
Wedeman stands at a height of 5 feet 8 inches tall.
Ben Wedeman Family
Wideman’s father is known as Miles G. Wideman while his mother is known as Martha Jean Hall Wedeman. However, he has not disclosed the names of his siblings as he likes to keep his personal life private.
Ben Wedeman Wife
Wedeman is married to Yasmine Perni. Together the couple has been blessed with three children whose names he has not disclosed as he likes to keep his personal life private.
Ben Wedeman Net Worth
Wedeman has an estimated net worth of between $1 Million – $5 Million which he has earned through his career as a correspondent
Ben Wedeman Salary
Wedeman earns an annual salary ranging from $ 45,000 – $ 110,500.
Ben Wedeman Education
Wedeman attended the University of Texas, Austin where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Oriental Languages and Linguistics. He also attended the London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies where he received a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies. He’s an eloquent Arabic and Italian speaker and has a working knowledge of ancient Egyptian and Hebrew. Additionally, he has learned Russian, Japanese, and classical and contemporary Mongolian.
Ben Wedeman Career
Wedeman serves at CNN as a senior international correspondent based in Beirut. Additionally, he has been based in Italy, Rome where he covered the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Pope Francis. He has also covered the military-backed overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, the war against ISIS in Iraq, the failed Turkish coup d’état in July 2016, and the civil war in Syria. When he was based in Cairo, he led the network’s coverage of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. Furthermore, he was the western journalist to enter Libya shortly after. In 2011, he covered the effort to bring down the regime of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for months.
When he was based out of CNN’s bureau in Jerusalem, he focused on Palestinian affairs. In July 2007, he was the first reporter to break the news of the release of kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston. Additionally, during Israel’s late 2008-2009 offensive, he had the privilege of being the first western reporter to enter Gaza from Egypt. Furthermore, he reported from south Lebanon in the summer of 2006, when he was CNN’s senior reporter in Tyre during the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
He also covered a succession of wars in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Balkans, and subsequent Second Intifada, famine and strife in Africa, and coverage of the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone which was an award winner. He was one of the journalists to cover the fall of the city of Kirkuk and in the same place in 2003, he reported on the United States-led invasion of Iraq from Kurdish territory in the north of the country.
Following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, he continued to follow developments in Iraq where he traveled throughout the country highlighting the myriad of difficulties that would confront coalition forces as they tried to impose order in the post-Saddam era. Additionally, he was the first journalist to interview Iraqi prisoners tortured by American soldiers in what was to become the infamous Abu Ghraib scandal.
In CNN’s coverage of Operation Defensive Shield, when Israel, retaliating for a series of bloody suicide bombings, reoccupied the West Bank in 2002, he played a central role. furthermore, he covered the collapse of the Taliban in Afghanistan and was the only Western journalist to interview, via radio and in Arabic, Al-Qaeda fighters holed up in the mountains of Tora Bora following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
Since 1994, he has been with CNN since he joined the network’s bureau in Amman, Jordan, as a fixer/producer/sound technician. he became the Amman Bureau Chief where he was responsible not only for the network’s coverage of Jordan’s evolving relationship with Israel after their historic 1995 peace deal but also for coverage of Iraq under Saddam Hussein IN 1995. In addition, he got the privilege of being the only western journalist to obtain an exclusive interview with Udai Saddam Hussein, the notorious son of the Iraqi dictator.
A plethora of awards has been given to him in recognition of his reporting. He was also part of the CNN team that won the Overseas Press Club and Edward R. Murrow award for Best TV interpretation or documentary on foreign affairs in 1996. After some time, for his coverage of the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, he won an Emmy and an Edward R. Murrow award, for his coverage of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war he won a Murrow award, a Peabody for coverage of the Syrian civil war, a Peabody award for coverage of the Mosul offensive, and a Peabody award for coverage of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
He worked as a freelance print journalist based in Amman, Jordan, covering the news in Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Sudan, and Syria. Furthermore, he served as a demolition expert for a French oil prospecting company near Raqqa, Syria, and as an international agricultural research center in Aleppo, Syria. Since 1974, he resided on and off in the Middle East.
Ben Wedeman CNN
Wedeman is working at CNN where he works alongside other famous CNN anchors and reporters including;
- Anderson Cooper
- Guillermo Arduino
- Carl Azuz
- Jeffy Zeleny
- Julian Zelizer
- Jeff Zucker
- Vanessa Yurkevich
- Ryan Young
- Jasmine Wright
- Fareed Zakaria
- Fredricka Whitefield
- Whitney Wild
- Coy Wire
- Ben Westcott
- Nick Watt
- Bill Weir
- Hines Ward
- Ivan Watson
- Clarissa Ward
- Bianna Golodryga
- Brooke Baldwin
Ben Wedeman Social Media Platforms
Wedeman is active on his social media accounts and is often seen posting on his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. He has over 123k followers on Twitter, and over 3k followers on Instagram.