President Joe Biden is reportedly losing his highest-ranking communications official. According to Politico, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield is departing the administration. Bedingfield oversaw the development of media strategy for Biden. 

The latest polling numbers show Joe Biden’s approval ratings are at historic lows. According to New York Magazine, he is now polling worse than Trump was at the same point in his presidency. 

Meanwhile, Bedingfield is the latest big name to leave the White House. In May, former Press Secretary Jen Psaki left the podium to pursue an opportunity with MSNBC. 

Bedingfield served as Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director during the 2020 election. She also worked in the Obama-Biden White House and served as John Edwards’ presidential campaign spokesperson in 2008. Bedingfield has also dabbled in sports and entertainment communications. 

Bedingfield recently stepped in to host press briefings when Psaki and current White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre were stricken with COVID-19.

The White House had not stated Bedingfield’s departure as of Wednesday evening. It is unclear what her next move may be. 

This week would have marked the 100th anniversary of the New York Times’ tradition of printing the Declaration of Independence; however, readers weren’t too pleased when it was printed on July 5th rather than on July 4th. 

According to the Wednesday edition of “Playbook,” Politico reported that the outlet forgot its “longstanding tradition.” New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha attributed the mistake to “human error.”

Furthermore, Ha explained that Times employees forgot to put the Declaration of Independence into print this year. The spokesperson added that the newspaper has no plans to change its longstanding tradition. 

“We have a longstanding tradition of printing the Declaration of Independence in the July 4th print edition. Due to a human error, it wasn’t printed this July 4th so was included in the July 5th edition,” Ha said. “We have no plans to change the tradition going forward.”

The tradition of the New York Times printing the Declaration of Independence began in 1922 as it started printing “facsimile of the original document,” and every year since.

TheWrap has new leadership at the company as the media outlet announced the Los Angeles Times marketing veteran Oganes Akopyan is the new Vice President of Marketing and Events.

In this position, Akopyan will oversee all marketing strategies for the news outlet, including supporting sales targets and determining brand growth while also leading TheWrap’s premium events portfolio.

“We could not be more excited to bring on board a marketing leader with such an impressive set of accomplishments,” TheWrap CEO Sharon Waxman said in a statement.

“Oganes has built large-scale events at the L.A. Times and brought delightful creativity and laser operational focus to his marketing efforts. But mostly, we are delighted to bring someone with such drive and passion to join our best-in-class team of business leaders.” 

Akopyan’s career spans over two decades with stints at the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and Tribune Publishing. Furthermore, his appointment rounds out TheWrap’s senior leadership team, including Chief Operating Officer Dan Strauss and Chief Revenue Officer Lynne Segall. 

“I’m excited to join TheWrap at a momentous period in the company and help spearhead the continued growth of their outstanding events division, as well as promote their award-winning content across all platforms,” Akopyan said. 

“I’ve always admired TheWrap throughout my career, and it’s a perfect time to now embark on this new opportunity and journey to bring my years of media expertise to the forefront. Sharon Waxman has created an exemplary media company, I’m really looking forward to further building on that foundation by shaping exciting events that resonate across the entertainment industry and enthusiastic consumers alike.”