Washington Post publisher Sir Will Lewis is dealing with a PR disaster, with his personal newspaper and rivals investigating his previous as a senior government at Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
It is the kind of downside that Lewis has, till not too long ago, tried to remedy for purchasers of his communications and consultancy firm, WJL Partners, named from his initials.
Founded in 2020, WJLP has hosted dinners and different occasions for high- powered trade bosses, traders resembling Sequoia Capital and politicians, in addition to offering providers resembling getting ready purchasers for media interviews, in accordance to these aware of its enterprise.
On its web site, WJLP says it sits “by the side of leaders who want a safe space, wise counsel and someone at the end of the phone”.
The firm has continued to function even after Lewis was employed late final 12 months to run The Washington Post by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who acquired the title in 2013.
In January it invited contacts to an occasion on the World Economic Forum annual assembly in Davos, two weeks after Lewis took up his new place on the newspaper, with Lewis and the chief government of Drax, the UK energy firm.
“The dinner will be an intimate gathering, convening a select group of senior guests from business, media and policy to discuss what role climate change will play in the 2024 elections,” the invitation promised.
According to an individual shut to the chief, Lewis now not has any industrial curiosity or involvement in WJLP, having handed on the possession to his enterprise companions.
But in addition to retaining his initials, the PR firm has continued to distribute common emails from Lewis, providing his ideas on international enterprise and political occasions.
The emails and unchanged branding have prompted confusion amongst folks involved with the company, in accordance to trade sources.
The firm doesn’t cost a payment for the distribution of Lewis’s e-newsletter, which clearly states that Lewis is chief government and publisher of The Washington Post, in accordance to an individual shut to the state of affairs.
According to filings within the UK’s Companies House, Lewis relinquished his controlling stake within the enterprise to Victoria Davies, a director on the firm, on the finish of final 12 months after Lewis was appointed by Bezos.
Davies now holds a stake of between 50-75 per cent of the enterprise, in accordance to the filings, which might match the stake that Lewis had held. Lewis declined to remark.
The firm mentioned: “WJLP is a high-level advisory firm based in London. William Lewis has had no financial interest in WJLP since 29th December 2023 and WJLP has no contractual relationship with The Washington Post.”
In addition to company purchasers, Lewis additionally offered communications recommendation to former UK prime minister Boris Johnson after the “Partygate” disaster in 2022 — the so-called “Save big dog” operation that finally failed to defend Johnson’s authorities from accusations that he flouted Covid-19 guidelines in the course of the pandemic.
Lord Ross Kempsell, Johnson’s former spokesman, who was appointed by the then-prime minister to the House of Lords, acts as a senior adviser to WJLP however isn’t concerned in its day-to-day operations.
One one that attended among the conferences, together with dinners with Lewis, described him as a high networker: “He’s an extraordinary convener of people [and] had a great way of helping [companies] . . . he was very shrewd with his advice and helpful with introductions.”
Lewis is a former Financial Times journalist and Telegraph editor who served as chief government of the Murdoch-owned Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal from 2014 to 2020.
However, his profession in journalism and communications has come below scrutiny since he was named publisher of The Washington Post in November 2023.
As properly as WJLP, Lewis based The News Movement, a web based information web site aimed toward youthful audiences. The News Movement was partly funded with cash from Heritage Advisors, a enterprise capital firm led by Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, a former Qatari authorities official.
Heritage Advisors has additionally invested in right-wing cable channel Newsmax. The Washington Post reported earlier this 12 months that Newsmax workers have been informed to keep away from criticising Qatar, though this was denied by Heritage, which has mentioned it has no links to the Qatari state.
Lewis was appointed by Bezos to arrest mounting losses and a falling readership however he angered journalists within the newsroom after changing government editor Sally Buzbee with former colleagues from the WSJ and the Telegraph.
In the wake of her departure and the announcement of his plans to overhaul the newsroom, US media shops have extensively coated his links to an alleged cover-up of the phone-hacking scandal that shook Murdoch’s UK information operation greater than a decade in the past.
He is without doubt one of the former and present News Corp workers named in authorized proceedings introduced by Prince Harry over phone-hacking claims in opposition to Murdoch’s publications. Lewis has at all times denied any wrongdoing.
US media have additionally alleged that he tried to cease The Washington Post and different US shops from working damaging tales on his previous, one thing his spokesperson has denied.
Bezos despatched a memo to senior editors on the newspaper this week that was extensively seen as supportive of Lewis’s place, arguing “the world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business” however that excessive editorial requirements would stay unchanged.
Additional reporting by Arash Massoudi in London