Jeff Zeleny, the New York Times’ national political correspondent will leave the Times for ABC News next month where he’ll be senior political correspondent.

Zeleny tells TVNewser the decision to jump from print to TV was easy, since he hasn’t “worked for a newspaper in quite a while,” referring to the Times’ expansion into video and social.

So how did his editors take it when he told them the news?

“There’s no question that some of the editors were disappointed,” he says. But as for executive editor Jill Abramson: “She was very gracious throughout this whole process. It’s been a great opportunity at The Times. They tried to get me to stay.”

Zeleny also is bullish about his soon-to-be old medium when we asked if he thinks there will be a print edition in 10 years: “I do think there will be a print edition of the New York Times in 10 years. There’s no question that mobile has been a huge part of our audience, but there are still a lot of people who find value in the print edition.”