A second Obama administration veteran has landed in a media firm’s executive suite. Two months after ObamaCare’s chief propagandist, ex-ABC and CBS correspondent Linda Douglass, became Vice President of the Atlantic Media Company, Michael Calderone reported Tuesday afternoon on “The Upshot” Yahoo News blog:
Former White House social secretary Desirée Rogers has been named chief executive of Johnson Publishing Company, billed as “the world's largest African-American owned-and-operated publishing company.” JPC publishes both Ebony and Jet magazines.
The news about Rogers came the very week MSNBC entered a partnership with the Chicago-based Ebony magazine to air joint reports on education policy, culminating in a two-hour special at noon EDT this Sunday: “Making the Grade.”
Calderon reminded readers that “Rogers, a former corporate executive and a Chicago friend of the Obama family, resigned in February from her position as the first African-American social secretary” after she “came under fire during her White House tenure after socialites-turned-reality-TV stars Tareq and Michaele Salahi famously crashed a state dinner.”
Calderone also noted the two magazines are legitimate journalistic enterprises, at least since Obama was inaugurated: “Both Ebony and Jet have ramped up Washington coverage since Obama took office. Both publications joined the rotating White House press pool and petitioned for a seat in the briefing room.”
My complete Obama-media revolving door list. Rogers makes the 17th member.
Ebony’s press release, announcing the CEO position for Rogers, poured on the praise:
Rogers is recognized as an innovative leader with a proven track record of developing creative solutions to transition organizations. She is known as an exceptional communicator and a committed community advocate. Rogers is expert in repositioning brands, utilizing their core essence to engage customers and extending them into the communities they serve.
Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News carried a short item about Rogers read by fill-in anchor Ann Curry:
The former White House social secretary who left Washington soon after that state dinner crasher scandal has a new job. Desiree Rogers has been named CEO of Chicago-based Johnson Publishing Company which puts out Ebony and Jet magazines and is the premier black publisher in the nation.
