The magazine political recently lamented the loss of a great American hero. In the past, one article said nostalgically, you could still make a career out of being a journalist if you were responsible for the President and the White House. Especially when Donald Trump was in office and living in the building, a reporter who bore the title of “White House Correspondent” was certain of three things: a lot of work, a lot of attention and, in the end, a highly lucrative book deal .
But then Joe Biden took over, and now work as a presidential correspondent is mostly boring, wrote political. No intrigue, no chaos, no pierced internals. And no more pointed duels in the White House press room. Under Trump, this somewhat cramped space was an important stage, especially for television journalists, on which they could prove their knowledge, quick wit and of course their attitude.
Her partner works for CNN
In the future, Karine Jean-Pierre will be the mistress of this room. At the end of next week, the 44-year-old is scheduled to take over as White House Press Secretary, spokeswoman for the President of the United States. Jean-Pierre is not only the first African American woman to hold the post, but also the first woman to openly be in a homosexual relationship. Her partner works for the broadcaster CNN, the couple has a daughter.
Unlike her predecessor Jennifer Psaki, Karine Jean-Pierre does not necessarily come from the social circles from which a job in the White House is within reach. She was born on the French Caribbean island of Martinique to Haitian parents. When Karine Jean-Pierre was five years old, the family emigrated to the United States, to the New York borough of Queens. Her father worked as a taxi driver, her mother as a nurse. For the two of them, it must have been the fulfillment of their American immigrant dream that their daughter was able to study at the New York Institute of Technology and at Columbia University just a few years later.
She has also worked as an activist and as a political commentator
After graduating, Jean-Pierre went into politics. She worked first for a New York local politician, then as an advisor and organizer for various Democratic presidential candidates – some of them less successful (John Edwards 2008, Martin O’Malley 2016), some of them very much (Barack Obama 2012, Joe Biden 2020). In between she worked for the organization Moveon.org, which runs mobilization campaigns for left-liberal causes, and as a political commentator for the news channels NBC News and MSNBC. The latter, it is said in Washington, will also be Psaki’s new employer, whose deputy Jean-Pierre was previously.
In the US, this back and forth between politics, media and activist work is less unusual than, for example, in Germany. A normal Washington CV also includes positions at PR firms, lobbying firms, law firms, think tanks or strategy and investment consultancies. This also has to do with the fact that life in the American capital is very expensive, while salaries in the White House are comparatively low. The press secretary earns about $180,000 a year – far less than the famous TV reporters who ask the questions in the press room.
Jean-Pierre takes on her new role at a difficult time. Inflation is high, Biden’s poll numbers are bad, so is the mood in the country, and the Democrats are threatened with defeat in the congressional elections in November. There is little good news for Jean-Pierre to announce from the famous podium with the stylized White House in the background. She’ll try anyway, that’s her job now.