President-elect Joe Biden announced his senior communications team on Sunday, and the press celebrated the all-female team. But this is not the first White House to have such a team.
Summary
On Sunday, the Biden Administration’s senior communications team was announced, with women filling all top roles.
- CNBC noted the deep Washington experience the team has, while erroneously noting it is the “first time in history” the senior communications positions in the White House will be filled entirely by women.
- The team is stacked with Obama-Biden Administration alumni, including former State Department spokesperson and Obama White House communications director Jen Psaki and Kate Bedingfield, who served as communications director for Biden during his time as Vice President.
- While saying the team was comprised of “qualified, experienced communicators”, President-elect Biden said they will bring “diverse perspectives” to the table.
- Reuters noted the Trump White House has several women in senior communications roles, including press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah.
- The Washington Post emphasized Biden’s apparent “frequent” efforts “break barriers” using his “political power,” referencing his selection of Kamala Harris as Vice President and commitment to naming a Black woman to the United States Supreme Court.
- The New York Times’ reporting on the announcement spent several paragraphs criticizing the Trump Administration’s communications shop after noting Psaki will focus to “rebuild the trust of the American people.”
- Huffington Post also repeated the false claim this is the first time all women have held top roles in a White House communications office, while quoting a Biden source saying the positions were announced as a team to demonstrate their close coordination in the incoming administration.
- Fox News pointed out the ties to mainstream media Biden’s new communications team has, noting Jen Psaki was recently a CNN contributor and calling out Jake Tapper for a double-standard in his treatment of Trump communications appointees.
- Mollie Hemingway with The Federalist criticized several mainstream media outlets for pushing a narrative of a historical “first”, detailing the many positions held by women in the Trump White House’s communications office.
- Breitbart’s coverage took a different tack, focusing instead on a perceived slight of former Bernie Sanders press staffer and Biden 2020 staffer Symone Sanders, who Breitbart wrote “stood by Biden’s side through thick and thin,” after Psaki was announced as Biden’s press secretary.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2020
