William Lewis (journalist)
Sir William John Lewis (born 2 April 1969)[1] is a British media executive who serves as the publisher and chief executive officer of The Washington Post. He was formerly chief executive of Dow Jones & Company and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Earlier in his career, he was known as a journalist and then editor.
For other people named William Lewis, see William Lewis (disambiguation).
SirWilliam Lewis
2 April 1969
London, England
Simon Lewis (brother)
While editor of The Daily Telegraph,[2] Lewis led the team that broke the story of the MPs' expenses scandal, which led to the resignations of six government ministers and Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, and to the creation of Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.[3]
From September 2010[4] to July 2011, Lewis worked as general manager of the newspaper publisher News International, playing a role in the company's response to the phone hacking crisis. In July 2011, following the closure of the News of the World, Lewis left News International to join the Management and Standards Committee, an independent division led by Lord Grabiner KC, created by the News Corp board to orchestrate cooperation with multiple law enforcement investigations into News International.
On 5 November 2023, Lewis was named as the new publisher and CEO of The Washington Post.[5] During his tenure, he clashed with executive editor Sally Buzbee over his attempt to reorganize the newsroom structure and to kill coverage of his role in the phone hacking crisis.[6][7]
Early life and career[edit]
William Lewis was born and raised in Hampstead Garden Suburb, North London, England. His father David Lewis M.B.E,[8] worked as a Managing Director of a packaging company and his mother Sally was a teacher. Lewis's primary education was at Brookland Junior school in Hampstead Garden Suburb. His secondary education was at Whitefield school, a comprehensive school in the London Borough of Barnet. After achieving his A levels, Lewis studied for a BSc in politics and economics at Bristol University, where he wrote for the student newspaper, Epigram,[1] and captained the University 1st football team. Following university Lewis completed a postgraduate diploma in Periodical Journalism at City University.
In 1991, Lewis was hired as a finance reporter by The Mail on Sunday.[9] In 1994 he left the tabloid to take a job in the Financial Times' investigative unit. He later became fund management correspondent and then mergers and acquisitions correspondent.[9] In 1999, while posted at the New York office he broke the story of the ExxonMobil merger,[10] the biggest industrial merger in US corporate history. The scoop surprised the US business media and helped establish the Financial Times in the US.[11] Following this Lewis was promoted to Global News Editor.[12] He was then poached to become business editor at the Sunday Times, where he remained for three years, from 2002 to 2005.
Telegraph Media Group[edit]
Lewis joined the Telegraph Media Group as city editor in August 2005 and was made deputy editor of The Telegraph while he was still working out his notice from The Sunday Times. In October 2006 he became The Daily Telegraph's youngest ever editor.[13]
On joining The Telegraph, Lewis described the newspaper as a "shambles", with "no innovation, no culture of improvement, no understanding of the need to perform, of needing to work with your colleagues rather than be at war with them."[14]
As editor he took control of the newspaper during period of tumultuous change thanks to the decline in print sales and display advertising revenue.[15]
Lewis designed the layout of the Telegraph's new Victoria newsroom[16] and saw through the modernisation program which involved senior staff cuts. The move was initially felt to be in conflict with the newspaper's brand and ageing readership.[16]
In 2007 he was made editor-in-chief of TMG.[10]
During his time as editor, he also attempted a broader debate at The Telegraph about the environment. While the newspapers and website continued to house global warming deniers such as Christopher Booker and James Delingpole,[17] he also recruited Geoffrey Lean, the environmental commentator to write a weekly column and lead the Telegraph's global warming coverage.[18]
Departure from the Telegraph Group[edit]
In the summer of 2009, Lewis took a two-month sabbatical from TMG to attend the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School – a compressed version of the college's famed Masters in Business Administration. Towards the end of this period Lewis was joined by TMG chief executive Murdoch MacLennan who stayed to hammer out Lewis's future at TMG.[26][29]
In November 2009, Lewis returned to the UK, and founded Euston Partners, a digital development division based in Euston, London, staffed by a team of Telegraph employees.[30] The aim of the division was to find a way for newspapers to make money from the emerging App economy.[31] In January 2010 Lewis took the title of Managing Director Digital, while retaining his position of group editor in chief. Shortly after this he gave up the daily running of Sunday and Daily Telegraph. He was succeeded in the editor's chair by Tony Gallagher in late 2009, but remained editor-in-chief.[32]
At the 2010 British Press Awards, The Telegraph was named the "National Newspaper of the Year" for its coverage of the MPs' expenses scandal (named "Scoop of the Year"), with Lewis winning "Journalist of the Year" for his role.[33]
Accepting his award Lewis said: "If there was ever a story that proved that news still sells newspapers I suspect this was it."[34]
Despite this success, all was not well within TMG. Lewis wanted to create a standalone business with a "start-up mentality" from the digital unit, whereas MacLennan wanted the Euston-based project to remain within his control at TMG.[35][36] Unable to come to an agreement with MacLennan, Lewis departed on May 5, 2010,[37] just six months. The split was described in the press as "amicable" but that Maclennan had been "impatient to see results". TMG said they would continue to maintain the digital division.[38]
News International[edit]
In September 2010 Lewis was hired by News International as group general manager. A key part of this new role was to modernise the company and create streamlined digital newsrooms as he had done at TMG.[39][40]
Almost immediately on joining, an article in The New York Times caused the ongoing issue of illegal phone message interception by the News of the World to flare up.[41]
Towards the end of 2010, Lewis was informed that the company was facing a large number of civil actions relating to phone hacking.[42]
On 10 January, Lewis sent out a formal instruction to the IT staff at News International that all evidence relevant to various civil and criminal actions was to be retained on News International's email servers.[43][44]
Lewis remained as general manager as the crisis grew. In the aftermath of revelations by The Guardian that News Of the World reporters had deleted voicemails of the murdered school girl, Milly Dowler, the News of the World was closed.[45]
He stepped down as group general manager in July 2011 to take a role as an executive member of the Management and Standards Committee, an independent division of News Corp mandated by the board to cooperate fully with all authorities investigating wrongdoing at News International.[46]
The News Movement[edit]
In May 2021, it was reported that Lewis joined former BBC newsman Kamal Ahmed in founding The News Movement,[82] a digital news company aiming to counter misinformation. Ahmed will serve as its editor-in-chief.
The Washington Post[edit]
On 5 November 2023 Lewis was named chief executive officer and publisher of The Washington Post, replacing Fred Ryan.[5] Lewis began the job on January 2, 2024.[5]
In April 2024, he announced a plan to reorganize the newsroom, splitting off a new division focused on reporting for social media and service journalism. He offered executive editor Sally Buzbee a role leading the new division, which she viewed as a demotion, helping prompt her resignation in June 2024.[6] He also clashed with Buzbee over the Post's publication of an article that reported on a judge's decision to let him be named as potentially involved in the News International phone hacking scandal. NPR reporter David Folkenflik reported Lewis had previously tried to offer him an exclusive interview in exchange for suppressing the story.[7][83]