
- President-elect, Joe Biden, recently announced the enlisting of an all-female media team.
- The media team will be led by White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, who acted as Biden's campaign communications director.
- The decision is said to reflect Biden's campaign pledge to create a diverse and inclusive administration, as reported by the Washington Post.
This new development is labelled by Biden's office as a first for American politics.
According to various news platforms, it is the first time that all top advisers responsible for speaking on behalf of an administration will be female.
As reported by the Washington Post, the all-female team will change how journalists cover the administration, given that men's voices usually lead political and government news coverage.
"The odds are very high that if it's a story about the Biden administration, any aspect of it, at least one quote in the story will be from a woman," says Anita Dunn, a senior Biden campaign adviser.
President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris today announced new members of the White House staff who will serve in senior communications roles.
— Biden-Harris Presidential Transition (@Transition46) November 29, 2020
For the first time in history, these communications roles will be filled entirely by women.https://t.co/SjWAWJg941
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Among those appointed is Jennifer Psaki, a longtime Democratic spokeswoman, who will be the White House press secretary. Psaki has held several senior titles, one of which was White House communications director for the Barack Obama-Biden administration.
Other appointees include Ashley Etienne, Symone Sanders, Pili Tobar, Karine Jean Pierre and Elizabeth Alexander.
Etienne will work as communications director for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, with Sanders named as Harris's senior advisor and chief spokeswoman.
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Tobar was awarded the position of deputy White House communications director, and Jean Pierre will act as principal deputy press secretary.
Elizabeth Alexander will take on the role of communications director for incoming First Lady, Jill Biden.
"These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better," Biden said in a statement.
As reported by the New York Times, Biden also intends to name Neera Tanden, an Indian-American woman, as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
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SOURCES: Washington Post, New York Times, The Guardian, IOL
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