In 2011, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, News Corporation, faced a severe threat in Britain when reporters at one of his tabloid newspapers were exposed for hacking the phones of celebrities, private citizens, and even a murdered child for information. It was also revealed that tabloid reporters had been paying for information from police officers and government officials for years. Will Lewis, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, was chosen to clean up the mess and cooperate with authorities to reveal the wrongdoing and set the operation on a new course. However, there have been accusations that he helped cover up the extent of the scandal.
Mr. Lewis was caught off guard when The Washington Post’s executive editor quit ahead of his reorganization and it was reported that he had told her that covering the legal developments in the hacking case was a lapse in judgment. He also offered a scoop to an NPR reporter in exchange for not pursuing an article about the phone-hacking scandal. His newsroom overhaul at The Post has raised questions from his reporters about his vision, hiring decisions, and ethics. The Post has stated that Mr. Lewis is clear about not crossing certain lines and his track record reflects that.
Having started his career in Britain, where journalists engaged in unethical practices like paying for scoops and hacking into phones, Mr. Lewis made a name for himself by having his reporters pay for confidential information on politicians’ expense claims. These tactics would be considered unethical in most American newsrooms, including The Washington Post. Reporters at The Post are wondering whether Mr. Lewis will bring new journalistic sensibilities and ethical standards to the paper.
The phone-hacking scandal began with revelations that tabloid journalists in Britain had hacked into the phones of various individuals to get scoops. News Corp-owned News of The World folded as a result of the scandal, and the costs related to it now exceed $1 billion, including damages to victims. Mr. Lewis was tasked with dealing with the fallout in 2011 and joined a small team that sought to assign blame, uncover wrongdoing, and show News Corp’s commitment to addressing the issue.
In court documents, phone-hacking victims claim that Mr. Lewis allowed the deletion of emails that could have implicated senior News Corp figures in the scandal. They assert that he ignored information that could have implicated senior executives and that he was involved in a scheme to justify deleting emails. Mr. Lewis denies any wrongdoing, and the lawsuit is one of many that have surrounded the hacking affair. Many plaintiffs settled their cases, while others continue to press their claims.
The future of The Washington Post became more uncertain after the appointment of Mr. Lewis as publisher. He began planning to split the paper into three sections, leading to tensions with the former executive editor, Sally Buzbee, who ultimately quit. Reports emerged that Mr. Lewis had scolded Ms. Buzbee over the newspaper’s coverage of the hacking lawsuit and had offered a deal to an NPR reporter in exchange for not publishing an article on the allegations. This behavior surprised journalists, both within and outside The Post, and raised concerns about Mr. Lewis’s credibility and motives.
