Apple wants Obama’s former press secretary to lead its PR

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jaycarney
From the White House to the Mothership: Jay Carney might be Apple's next PR boss.

Apple has been looking a lot friendlier ever since its PR boss Katie Cotton left the company last May, and even though no one has been tapped to fill her vacancy yet, Cupertino might be looking to make a huge splash by tapping President Obama’s former press secretary for the post.

Former White House press secretary Jay Carney is supposedly one of the top candidates to replace Cotton, according to a Re/code report that claims Carney has also been a target to fill Uber’s open PR spot.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has stated that he wants a friendly, more approachable face to head the company’s PR going forward, but Carney’s rep from his time in Washington could mean Apple’s strong-arm PR tactics aren’t likely to die with Cotton, even though the company has been a little more open on communication recently.

Cotton was legendary for her ice-cold handling of Apple’s PR, but Carney learned a few tricks of his own on how to dodge questions and shun journalists from access during his days sculpting the PR message of the commander-in-chief.

Before his time in the political realm, Carney served as the Washington bureau deputy chief for Time magazine from 2003 to 2005, and from September 2005 until December 2008. He won the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency in 2003.

Carney stepped down from his role as White House press secretary June 20 after taking over the post for Robert Gibbs in 2011. He also served as Vice President Joe Biden’s director of communications starting in 2008 and was infamous for his ability to dodge questions with simple “I don’t know responses” — which would at least be a small upgrade from the non-responses most journalists get when querying Apple PR.

Update: Carney’s move to Apple has been shot down by Jim Dalrymple, who says Jay Carney is not being considered, and he hasn’t even met with Tim Cook.

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