Dana Bash

Dana Ruth Bash is a famous American journalist and reporter for CNN.

Background

She was born on June 15, 1971, in Montvale, New Jersey. Her father, Stu Schwartz was an ABC News senior producer and her mother Frances Weinman was an author and educator of Jewish studies. Dana is the second born in a family of four children and her mother described her as quiet and the easiest to deal with during her younger years among her siblings.  One of Dana’s brothers, David is a video producer in New York City.

Dana went to Packsack High School in Montvale where she was a very vibrant young woman, both academically and in sports. Her activeness in sports made her become an easy selection as the head of the school's cheerleading squad. She was also a tough athlete who participated in short races and in the long jump. She won many medals for her school during athletic competitions, making her an all rounded girl in an out of class.

She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Communications from George Washington University which is located in Washington D.C.

Journalism Career

Her first journalism gig was at CNN, where she worked as an assistant journalist. The job was very demanding but she did not give up. She stayed put and was later promoted to a reporter and an editor. She produced CNN’s weekend programs, Late Edition, Evans & Novak and Inside Politics. She also produced for CNN on Capitol Hill, especially when she was assigned to cover the US Senate as an on-air reporter. Currently, she is a co-anchor of the Capitol Hill beat with John King and Jessica Yellin at CNN. Her previous assignment was as a White House correspondent for CNN.

In 2008, she was promoted to the post of CNN’s chief political correspondent, giving her a wider platform to cover politically related stories. She has also worked as a library assistant at the network’s Washington D.C bureau and a producer of the public affairs show for the same bureau.

Her coverage of big news stories in politics made her very famous and that is how she raised her popularity and gained many admirers all over the world. She has covered some major stories like the arrest of Saddam Hussein, Hurricane Katrina and the CIA intelligence leak investigation story. She was also appointed to co-host the Democratic Party debates for 2016 Presidential election together with Juan Carlos and Anderson Cooper

Awards and Recognitions

Dana’s notable credits and awards include the News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form, and Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress from the National Press Foundation. In March 2014, Elle Magazine honored her at the Italian Embassy in the US during its annual Women in Washington Power List.

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She was also part of the CNN team that won the Peabody Award for exceptional coverage of the 2008 presidential Campaign. She was lauded by her CNN’s bosses in 2008 as an extraordinary and a hardworking journalist and an example of a journalist with great news instincts. She has worked for the CNN network since 1993 and her job has been praised and respected by many

Personal Life

Dana’s personal life is riddled with numerous controversies. She has had two marriages. Her marital life was never stable because of her hectic journalist schedule. Her first marriage was to Jeremy Bash, whom she married in 1998 and but their marriage ended in 2007. The reason stated for their divorce was the lack of understanding between the couple. Jeremy Bash was the chief of staff for the secretary of defense.

She moved on and the following year, she tied the knot with a fellow correspondent named John Kin in 2008. After four years of marriage, the couple divorced. Together, they had a son born in June 2011. The baby was hardly a year old, when they decided to call it quits. In honor of John’s mother, Joan and Dana’s grandfather, Frank Weinman, the boy was named Jonah Frank. They are continuing to co-parent their son even though they are no longer together. It was heart wrenching for her to go through a second divorce. King is also at CNN and is a chief national correspondent. Soon after the divorce, rumors spread that he was having an affair with a correspondent at CNN. Just before marrying Dana, King converted to Judaism from Roman Catholic. He has a son and a daughter from an earlier marriage. Despite the divorce with King, Dana career was not affected by the fall out.

Early in 2012, Dana was involved in a number of controversies concerning an alleged affair with Ron Paul, a physician, author and politician. However, nothing was ever proved and Dana was not in a public relationship at that time. In 2013, love was back in the air for her. It was reported that the lovely lady began dating Spencer Garrett, an actor who appeared in AMC’s Mad Men.

Harassment and Controversy

In her career, Dana faced a lot of rude comments, especially after the birth of her son in 2011. She revealed that she received some ugly and gross comments from male senators when she was a congressional reporter. She agreed with a statement made by Kirsten Gillibrand that only older men said such things. 

In the 2016 presidential campaigns, Dana defended the media after Donald trump accused the media of being sleazy and dishonest for questioning where the campaign funds he raised were coming from. She claimed it was the role of the media to question and to unravel how different affairs are being run. She also added that it was Trump’s role to answer questions because that was part of the presidential job that he was seeking to win. Dana Bash is a social person whose character has helped draw a lot respect from many people around the world. She is also a philanthropist and runs some charity work in her home town.

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