Zeynalli was editor in chief of the daily newspaper Khural, one of a handful of independent media voices in the repressive, oil-rich nation of Azerbaijan, which lies at the borders of Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Under Zeynalli, Khural published a series of investigations alleging high-level corruption by officials in the Azerbaijan government, including its strongman president Ilham Aliyev. In his columns for the paper, Zeynalli also criticized Aliyev's repression of independent journalists and opposition activists in the country of nine million.