Former journalist chosen as new Obama press secretary

Jay Carney, a former journalist and Washington insider, was named Thursday as President Barack Obama’s new press secretary. The choice is one of several personnel changes at the White House meant to gear the presidency towards re-election in 2012.

By News Wires (text)

AP - President Barack Obama has chosen a White House insider and a former magazine journalist to be his next press secretary.

Jay Carney, 45, will be the chief spokesman for Obama and one of the most visible faces of the White House to the American public as Obama’s presidency pivots toward re-election in 2012. He replaces Robert Gibbs, who has also held an outsized presence as a counselor to Obama for the last several years.

A White House official confirmed the decision to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it had not been announced.

In choosing Carney, Vice President Joe Biden’s communications director, Obama went with someone who is inside his circle yet also seen to understand the needs of the White House press corps as a former member of its ranks.

Carney built his career as a reporter, covering the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush for Time and rising to the position of the magazine’s Washington bureau chief.

The decision is part of a package of new personnel changes at the White House.