Born in March 1948, Wolf Isaac Blitzer is a journalist who has been working with
CNN as a reporter since 1990. He was previously the host of the Sunday talk show known as the late Edition but is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room.
He was born in Europe but grew up in Buffalo, New York. He is the son of Jewish parents who originated from Poland. In 1970 Wolf graduated with a B.A in history from the University of Buffalo and later proceeded to study and acquired a Masters degree from John Hopkins University.
Blitzer is an experienced and traveled journalist who started his career in Tel Aviv working with the Reuters in early 1970's. After that he was taken by an English language newspaper in Israel to write for them. He was hired to cover political developments in the Middle East and has also extensively reported on American politics.
Wolf later transferred and it is during his term as a reporter with the Post that he got a chance to interview big political figures including several American presidents. He has covered several spying incidents too, including the capture of Pollard, who was a foreign spy arrested in American soil.
After moving to
CNN to work as a military and foreign affairs reporter in early 1990, Blitzer had the privilege of being the first American journalist to set foot on the Russian KGB headquarters. Later that year together with his team, he was awarded the CableAce award in recognition of their work in the coverage of the Gulf war. Then for the next seven years
CNN appointed Wolf as their corresponded at the White House. During that period he also covered the Oklahoma Bombing which also won him an Emmy award.
Wolf was also involved in the coverage of both the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns and subsequent elections. Since then, he has been the host of the Situation Room which is a 180 minute program at on
CNN.
Apart from his extensive field work and reporting, Blitzer is also an author. He has published a book titled Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter's Notebook which was written in 1985 and his second one is titled the Territory of Lies which was written in 1989.
Wolf Blitzer has worked on a documentary titled "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace." This documentary highlights the concessions that lead to the historic 1979 Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt. While working on this documentary in 2009, he was also acting as the
CNN's Washington Bureau Chief of the Jerusalem Post.
Apart from the Emmy award, Blitzer has also won many other awards including the 2004 Journalist Pillar of Justice Award. Also, in 2003 he was granted the Daniel Pearl Award and due to his teams work on covering the Katrina hurricane news, he won a George Foster Peabody Award. Wolf was named by
CNN as the readers' choice for the Best in the Business Award for network coverage of the Clinton Administration.
Wolf Blitzer is married to Lynn Greenfield and they have one daughter. The family lives in Maryland.
