Briefly: What's Going On over at 'The Washington Post'?

The Washington Post is going through it right now — it’s experiencing turmoil in its leadership and facing questions about its ethics, primarily surrounding the differences between how newspapers operate here and in the UK. Under fire, Robert Winnett — recently appointed to become the new editor of The Washington Post — has withdrawn from the position before officially starting the job. He will remain at the UK’s Daily Telegraph. This comes just weeks after his appointment by Post CEO and publisher Will Lewis.

Both Winnett’s and Lewis’s past journalistic practices in the UK have raised major ethical concerns. While potentially more common in British journalism, their practices are generally considered unethical on this side of the pond. They include allegations of using information obtained through illegal means, paying for scoops, and relying on private investigators who used deception to obtain information.

The situation began a few weeks ago with the abrupt exit of former executive editor Sally Buzbee, who essentially left in response to the hiring of Lewis, who planned to restructure the organization, which had seen huge financial losses and a subscriber base cut in half since 2020. To replace Buzbee, Lewis appointed Winnett, his former colleague from British newspapers. This move, along with the subsequent revelations about their past practices, created significant turmoil inside the Post’s newsroom.

Specifically, the newsroom was upset about allegations that included Winnett’s connection to a con artist who used illegal methods to obtain information for stories at the Sunday Times, where Winnett previously worked. There are also questions about Lewis and Winnett’s involvement in stories based on phone hacks, illegal phone interceptions, stolen records, and a $100,000 payment to a source made to obtain information about a major political corruption investigation in 2009.

In response to Winnett’s withdrawal, Lewis has announced that the Post will begin a new search for an editor. It’s not clear, however, why Lewis remains: NPR’s David Folkenflik reported that Lewis offered him an exclusive interview about the Post’s future if Folkenflik dropped a story about allegations related to Lewis and the phone hacking scandal. It wasn’t the first time he tried to kill a story about himself. That’s not an arguably unethical practice in the UK; it’s an actual unethical practice in the U.S.