We examine the ethics scandal unfolding in The Washington Post The controversy has rocked one of the country’s leading news outlets and raised questions about its future. The controversy centers on CEO and publisher Will Lewis, who allegedly pressured reporters inside and outside the newsroom not to publish unflattering stories about him. His efforts to reshape the newsroom in the face of heavy financial losses have also alarmed staff, and British editor Robert Winnett, Lewis’s pick for a top editorial post, has stepped down amid concerns about his history of using fraudulently obtained information in newspaper articles. Lewis is also embroiled in the long-running U.K. wiretapping scandal. Lewis and Winnett are both veterans of conservative British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, and The Guardian recently revealed that Lewis advised then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on how to cover his tracks amid public outrage over COVID precaution violations at the height of the pandemic. At the most basic level of how journalism should operate, leaders charged with reporting in the public interest should not suppress information. That’s a pretty simple bar, and Will Lewis failed to clear it, says Chris Lehmann, DC bureau chief for The nation.
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AMY GOODMAN: It is Democracy Now!democracynow.org, The War and Peace ReportI'm Amy Goodman.
We end today's show with media news and the ethics scandal unfolding in The Washington Post It rocked the newspaper's newsroom and raised questions about the future of one of America's premier news media outlets.
A British editor who has been chosen for a senior position at The Washington Post will no longer hold the post as outcry continues to mount over a plan to revamp the Jobeditorial. Editor-in-chief Robert Winnett will now remain at The Daily Telegraph in Britain instead of coming to The Washington PostThe decision comes days after it was revealed that Winnett had a history of using fraudulently obtained phone and business records in newspaper articles.
THE JobThe British broadcaster's chief executive, Will Lewis, is also under fire. Lewis and Winnett are both veterans of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers. The Guardian It was also recently revealed that Lewis advised then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior officials to, quote, wipe their phones amid public outcry over the government’s breaches of COVID-19 safety precautions, in what became known as Partygate in the UK. Will Lewis has also been accused of trying to suppress stories about his connection to the Rupert Murdoch phone-tapping scandal. World News newspaper in Britain. The owner of The Washington PostAmazon founder Jeff Bezos has backed Lewis.
To learn more, we were joined by Chris Lehmann, DC bureau chief for The nationwhere his recent piece is titled How the Editor of The Washington Post He allegedly helped cover up a scandal.
Chris, welcome to Democracy Now! It was great to have you on Friday to address the Trump-Biden debate, and we're going to ask you to talk a little bit more about the fallout from the weekend. But first, describe what's happening at The Washington Post.
CHRIS LEHMANN: Well, that’s not a good thing, Amy. Will Lewis is actually the successor to Katharine Graham, the famous publisher who stood up to the Nixon administration in the Pentagon Papers and Watergate scandals. And Lewis is sort of playing the role of a Nixon apparatchik in this Boris Johnson scandal. He went to great lengths to ask Johnson’s advisers not to release sensitive communications, after a public inquiry was launched into the Partygate scandal.
And as you noted, this is in addition to the whole wiretapping scandal. There was actually another one. report In The New York Timessince I wrote my piece For The nationin which Scotland Yard investigators assigned to the phone hacking case say Lewis did not disclose what turned out to be millions of sensitive emails, as he had initially claimed.
So you have, you know, the chief executive of one of the biggest newspapers in the country who is in this position to cover both Boris Johnson, when he was running a political consultancy, and to cover himself. And at the most basic level of how journalism should work, leaders in charge of reporting in the public interest should not be blacking out information. That's a pretty simple bar, and Will Lewis clearly failed to clear it.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the relationship between Winnett and Will Lewis, Will Lewis saying he's really sorry to lose
CHRIS LEHMANN: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: his colleague because of the outcry? But I suppose you could say that both of them are British Murdochites, people who work for Rupert Murdoch and are being investigated together.
CHRIS LEHMANN: That's right. Basically, Winnett was a protégé of Will Lewis at the time. Telegraphand they worked together on these stories involving what's called a blagger, which is someone who is hired under contract to impersonate someone in order to get information that will be embarrassing to various institutions and figures. And this is typical of the British tabloid press. The information they were looking for was pretty mundane and not of great public interest. You know, there was a story about a Manchester United owners' feud, and then there was a story about wealthy Brits lining up to buy a luxury Mercedes car. And, you know, under British law, you can use shady means to get information if it serves a public interest. It's very, very difficult to see how any of these stories meet that standard. You know, you have this sort of sordid tabloid culture that produces exciting clicks. And that's apparently what Jeff Bezos wanted at the time. The Washington PostAnd, boy, does he get a good dose of it.
AMY GOODMAN: And before we get to the debate, Chris, I wanted to ask you about the level of outcry that has been generated. The Washington Post newsroom, with people like Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Maraniss and others
CHRIS LEHMANN: RIGHT.
AMY GOODMAN: speak out and write articles. Some of the best reporting on the debacle
CHRIS LEHMANN: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: has The Washington Post East The Washington Post.
CHRIS LEHMANN: Yeah, and this is to Sally Buzbee's credit. You know, in one of these episodes, Lewis allegedly pressured Sally Buzbee not to cover a new development in the civil trial involving the wiretapping scandal, and she went ahead and resigned shortly afterward. Lewis denies doing that, but, you know, David Folkenflik, a NPR The reporter wrote that he tried the same tactic with him when Folkenflik was considering doing a story on Will Lewis. And Lewis basically said, “I'll give you the exclusive, provided you don't write about this phone-hacking story.”
So, again, suppression of information is bad for journalism. It's sad that we live in a time where this, you know, has to be reiterated. And that's why people like David Maraniss and many other people at the Job are really in distress, and a lot of talented journalists, you know, seem to be contemplating the exit. And, you know, it's sad, I came to Washington originally to work for The Washington Postand one of the main reasons was Katharine Graham's ownership. You know, it was a family newspaper that stood up to the state. That's what journalism should be. Now we have a Washington Post This is a company owned by an absentee billionaire who seems to like Rupert Murdoch's business model and has pushed it in this direction. It's really a sad and scandalous series of developments.
