Jim Kennedy, a veteran communications aide to both Bill and Hillary Clinton, was appointed the chief communications officer of News Corp on Wednesday.
Kennedy was a longtime adviser to Team Clinton, with stints working for President Bill Clinton, the White House Counsel’s office, Vice President Al Gore, Sen. Hillary Clinton and later the Clinton Foundation.
He’s been described by the media as “a calming presence” in the midst of the chaos of the Clinton camp, including managing publicity of the former President’s impeachment trial in 1999.
He started in the Clinton White House in 1998 and later assisted Sen. Hillary Clinton and the family’s charitable arm. In 2005, he left the Clinton Foundation for an executive post at Sony Pictures.
“Jim Kennedy is the canniest of communicators and the wisest of wordsmiths,” News Corp chief Robert Thomson said in a statement announcing Kennedy’s role.
“His global experience and Washington expertise mean that he has a contact network that extends from Tokyo to Tucson,” he added.
Former Clinton-ites, including former Clinton adviser Paul Begala and former Gore speechwriter Kenneth Baer, where quick to chime in on Twitter, sending their praise for Kennedy.
“News Corp damn lucky to land him,” Begala posted, with Baer praising him as “truly one of the best.” Baer warned, though, that working for the media company was a “new, tough assignment.”
Previously Teri Everett served as head of communications for News Corp, before the British phone hacking scandal prompted the conglomerate to split their entertainment branch off from their publishing properties in June 2013.
Everett left Murdoch’s empire in January 2012 and joined Time Inc. as Executive Vice President of Corporate Communications in March 2012.
