Media celebrates all-female communications team under Biden administration
Trump's all-female senior press team ignored by the media; senior policy analyst for the Independent Women's Forum Kelsey Bolar weighs in.
The New York Times quoted a pair of Obama loyalists to praise Jen Psaki in a feature Wednesday about the incoming press secretary and the rest of the Joe Biden communications team.
Psaki, an Obama administration and CNN alumna, was one of several women named to the unit, and she is set to take over the podium in the White House briefing room. She was featured in a Wednesday Times article headlined, “Four Women Who Will Handle the Media in the Biden White House.”
The New York Times fawned over incoming Press Secretary Jen Psaki with a glowing feature that quoted a pair of Obama administration staffers. (Sciulli/Getty Images for Politicon)
The liberal newspaper declared that Psaki “is generally viewed by reporters as fair and accessible” and “embodies [a] return to normalcy approach” before bringing in President Barack Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice to echo its point.
“The clown games are over… Jen will represent the professionalism and decency and commitment to transparency that has been a hallmark of Joe Biden’s career,” Rice told the Times.
The Times then enlisted Obama’s first press secretary, Robert Gibbs, to hammer home the narrative.
“I think she brings as much experience in that building, as much as anyone has ever brought to the job,” Gibbs told the Times.
“The world this administration inherits has more challenges than any in nearly a century,” Gibbs continued. “Having a steady, experienced voice behind that podium will serve them well.”
NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham told Fox News “this is how liberal newspapers cover liberals” so it shouldn’t surprise readers.
"’This liberal is very qualified and smart,’ says the person who worked in the next cubicle,” Graham joked. “Just like ‘Hillary is warm and very funny,’ says a friend of Hillary's from college.”
Graham felt the Times can get away with it because the paper’s reporters and readers share the same ideology.
“Democrats are allowed to vouch for other Democrats, because these newspapers are staffed with Democrats who are writing for Democrats,” Graham said.
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro also mocked the Times for the glowing piece.
“Your Very Objective Journalists™ just here doing the spadework for Jen Psaki, quoting Robert Gibbs and Susan Rice to claim that she is going to be honest and transparent with Americans,” Shapiro tweeted.
The Times didn’t speak to anyone with opposing views and ignored a controversial photo that was unearthed on Tuesday.
NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR LAMPOONED AFTER CLAIMING PAPER WILL COVER BIDEN ‘JUST AS THOROUGHLY’ AS TRUMP
A picture of Psaki featuring her posing in 2014 during her tenure as a State Department spokesperson with her then-boss, former Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
Psaki is seen wearing a pink shapka, or fur hat, that bears the communist hammer-and-sickle logo as part of a gift exchange between herself and Russian counterpart Zakharova.
The hammer and sickle has come to represent communist movements around the world. It also was featured on the flag of the former Soviet Union and has become a symbol of economic and political repression under communist regimes.
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In a widely mocked tweet on Tuesday, Psaki appeared to allude to the photo controversy and suggested it was "Russian propaganda."
The Times also featured a glowing testimonial from former Obama communications director Jennifer Palmieri about Kate Bedingfield, who will hold the role under Biden.
Earlier this week, New York Times associate managing editor Cliff Levy was lampooned for claiming the paper will cover Biden’s administration “just as thoroughly” as it covered President Trump during his four years in the White House.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Sam Dorman contributed to this report.
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