Newly-named Washington Post editor decides not to take job after backlash

NEW YORK (AP) — Newly-named Washington Post editor Robert Winnett has decided not to take the job and remain in England amid leadership turmoil at the news organization.

The Post's CEO and publisher, Will Lewis, announced Winnett's decision to withdraw in a note to staff on Thursday morning. He will stay as deputy editor of the Telegraph in London.

Several published reports had raised questions about Winnett's involvement in articles where a source was paid and information gathered through deceptive means — practices more commonplace in England but frowned upon by journalists in the United States.

As part of a reorganization that has backfired, Lewis had named Winnett, a former colleague, to take over the Post's core newsroom functions after the November election. The Post's former executive editor, Sally Buzbee, had quit rather than accept a demotion.

FILE - People walk by the One Franklin Square Building, home of The Washington Post newspaper, in downtown Washington, Feb. 21, 2019. New leaders of The Washington Post are being haunted by their past, with ethical questions raised about their actions as journalists in London that illustrate very different press traditions in the United States and England. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - Will Lewis, newly-appointed publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, poses for a portrait in Washington, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. Lewis is facing questions about whether he made efforts to conceal — in his own newspaper and elsewhere — his involvement in a British phone hacking scandal from his time working for Rupert Murdoch a decade ago. The weeklong saga, which began with the abrupt departure of the Post's executive editor Sunday, June 2, 2024 offers a window into differences between approaches to journalism in Britain and the United States.(Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP, File)

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