Washington Post Scraps Plan to Tap Telegraph Journalist as New Editor
Washington Post Scraps Plan to Tap Telegraph Journalist as New Editor
The Facts
Washington Post publisher Will Lewis announced Friday that the paper will no longer hire British journalist Robert Winnett as its next chief editor over ethics concerns. Winnett will instead remain in his position at the British newspaper The Telegraph.
Recent reports out of the New York Times and Washington Post detailed connections between him and a private investigator who used unethical means to obtain information, including hacking into phones.
The Spin
Keeping Winnett out of the Post is a good start, but Bezos needs to go further and get rid of Lewis, too. This Washington Post has a storied history of hiring the best and brightest journalists, character traits that seem to be missing in the current publisher.
The progressives at the Post are throwing a fit not over ethics concerns but rather that Lewis used to work for Rupert Murdoch's companies. As Bezos subsidizes the failing paper — which lost $77M last year — with his own wealth, the liberal newsroom should focus on writing better stories.
