In November 2023, The Washington Post appointed British media executive Will Lewis as its new publisher and CEO in a strategic effort to breathe new life into the company following job cuts and a rapid decline in audience numbers.
As he settles into his new position, Lewis finds himself stuck in a controversial civil trial from his past that continues to unfold in London's high court. From 2011-2012, Lewis was the group general manager at News International before being appointed to the News Corp Management and Standards Committee in response to concern that executives Rupert Murdoch and his son James --who were running the UK-based enterprise at the time -- could be in legal jeopardy under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
News of the World's Dark Secrets
It soon came to light and to the public, ensuing national chaos, that police officers and government officials were paid for information regularly by staff working for the publisher. Things took an even worse turn when News of the World hacked into the voicemails of missing 13-year-old schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
According to The Daily Beast, Lewis and former sports journalist Simon Greenberg, alongside a team of roughly 100 lawyers and forensic accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers, worked from a secret bunker within News International's east London location, as revealed by two people with intimate knowledge of the situation.
The Committee handed over emails, payment requests, and other evidence to Scotland Yard. The operations involved 200 officers and staff, who regulated raids on journalists' homes and arrested sources of News of the World and Sun reporters after the Committee shared their confidential information with the police.
Until today, there is little accountability about who ordered and signed off on the hacking and the payments to the police and government officials. News Corp has spent an overwhelming amount of money, believed to exceed $1 billion, to prevent these allegations from being aired in court.
More than a decade later, the targeted reporters are still traumatized and angry, especially at Lewis, whose career has flourished into the American media, having previously worked for The Wall Street Journal.
"Will Lewis' behavior throughout that particular period of time was utterly disgusting," Duncan Larcombe, who was the royal editor for The Sun for a decade, told The Daily Beast.
"Turning over journalists who overwhelmingly turned out to be completely innocent [and who] had all their contacts and confidential sources handed over to the police if that is his idea of good journalism, then I'm a monkey's uncle," Larcombe said.
When Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos was looking to right the newspaper's shaky finances, he turned to Will Lewis, whom he called "exceptional and tenacious."
NPR reported late last year that Lewis orchestrated a "massive cover-up of criminal activity" when leading the MSC. He has not been sued personally as a part of the ongoing litigation.
Lewis continues to deny the allegations, saying they are unequivocally unfounded.
