Will Lewis turns back on Telegraph takeover for lure of American news

For those who know Will Lewis, it was only a matter of when. His restless, striving personality meant that he would make a return to big-time media.

Since leaving Dow Jones, which he ran as chief executive, Lewis – or to give him his full title these days, since being knighted by Boris Johnson for providing advice while prime minister, Sir William Lewis – was detained in PR, managing his own boutique consultancy. He was also partnering former BBC journalist, Kamal Ahmed, in The News Movement, aimed at supplying accurate news and information to social media.

It didn’t seem enough for Lewis, 54. He was keen to become director general of the BBC, but that job went to Tim Davie. He was supposed to be interested in buying a newspaper. Various titles were mooted.

News that he is to be the next chief executive and publisher of The Washington Post, in succession to Fred Ryan, does not shock but nevertheless, it is another leading Brit installed at the apex of US media. Much is being made in London press circles that his Post appointment, coming soon after Mark Thompson’s appointment as head of CNN, is some sign of a British takeover. There have been other Brits parachuted into senior US media jobs as well in the last few years.

It’s a very British thing, the notion that we’re invading the mighty US, showing we’re preferred to the locals to run their major institutions. Famously, it was heralded by the actor Colin Welland who declared at the Oscars ceremony, “the Brits are coming”. They weren’t.

Rather, Thompson had previously been in charge of The New York Times, same as Lewis had been at Dow Jones. Both of them have a resolute toughness and single-mindedness. They’ve been schooled and battle-hardened in the jungle of the UK's Fleet St corps and ferociously competitive newsgathering and subjected to onslaughts from the political class and establishment. That may be what sets them apart.

When The Telegraph came up for sale earlier this year, Lewis was one of the contenders, having apparently secured sufficient funding.

Just about a decade ago Lewis had made himself persona non grata among some journalists in London. The role he played in the phone-hacking affair was a ruthless one.

When it appeared as though the police inquiries would threaten to destroy Rupert Murdoch’s organisation and the tycoon himself, in the UK and in the US, the board set up the “Management and Standards Committee” to co-operate fully with the authorities.

Lewis, who had been working for Murdoch’s UK newspapers as group general manager, was made executive member.

Operating in secrecy, away from the main offices, Lewis and his colleagues dealt with the law enforcers’ requests for evidence about the reporters’ activities. Details supplied by the committee led to numerous arrests and several convictions.

When he was assisting the committee, he was relatively open about his motivation, insisting he’d been appalled by what had been uncovered and that the behaviour of some reporters in pursuit of an “exclusive” had been so bad as to undermine the credibility of the entire profession, risking the imposition of onerous state regulation.

Of course, cynics will say that was a sop but his outrage did appear genuine. Yes, perhaps others would not have taken on such a task; yes, he did not need to do what he did. But that was his reasoning and he stuck to it.

Lewis has never been afraid to tackle totems. As Telegraph editor he steered the paper’s exposure of MPs for fiddling their expenses. It was claimed he was damaging parliament and democracy, a charge he dismissed, saying it was important to restore trust to politics and it could only be to the benefit of ordinary people, future generations and the country if criminal MPs were ejected.

The Telegraph, too, had a reputation for backing climate denial. Some of its best-known columnists were ardent eco-sceptics. Under Lewis, The Telegraph’s environmental coverage broadened and became more balanced.

After his stint with the committee, he stayed with Murdoch, going to manage in 2014 Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He drove digital readership and revenue. The WSJ did not back away from chasing stories regarding Donald Trump, winning a Pulitzer Prize for its work.

Again, he was not afraid to speak out – criticising Google and Facebook for propagating fake news. He also lambasted China for its reaction to the coronavirus outbreak and refused to back down.

Lewis gave the impression on returning from Dow Jones in New York that he had enough of criss-crossing the Atlantic. His family remained in London and he set himself a punishing schedule of living and holding down a demanding, high-profile position in the US on UK time.

Now, the tousle-haired, still youthful-looking Lewis has been tapped up by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. A Lewis characteristic is his ability to engage with top management and industry leaders just as easily as with sub-editors and junior reporters. He has an easy charm.

The two are said to have made contact when Lewis was seeking funding for his Telegraph bid. That may be so, but it’s also likely that he was on the executive search radar, given his experience.

His job is to wrest a decline in the US paper’s fortunes and to revitalise it, to restore The Washington Post to former glories. That’s no simple task, but Lewis is not without energy and thought. He’s a good listener and will make sure he gets around the staff and hears their views and ideas.

There has been speculation that a Bezos attempt to buy The Telegraph will emerge. Lewis is downplaying this, saying they’ve enough on their plate in DC.

The two titles would make a reasonable fit, they’re quality, centrist (albeit The Telegraph leans to the right) publications and The Telegraph’s online offer is expanding. But the indications are that the union won’t be happening.

That will remove one more competitor from The Telegraph field. Of the most likely remaining contenders, the backer of GB News, Sir Paul Marshall, now in alliance with the US hedge fund king Ken Griffin, seems the favourite and could afford it. Germany’s Axel Springer is showing signs of reluctance. DMGT would raise competition issues.

There’s all still to play for, but Lewis, the ex-editor, the one with the most intimate knowledge of The Telegraph culture, is heading elsewhere.