William Lewis

Washington Post Publisher, CEO

December 4, 2023

William Lewis is the incoming chief executive officer and publisher of the Washington Post. He succeeds Fred Ryan, who served nine years in the role.

An important figure in journalism and media, William Lewis has held influential positions at Telegraph Media Group, News Corp, Dow Jones, and the Associated Press.

He was born in London in 1969. His educational journey includes earning a degree in Politics and Economics from Bristol University, a postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from City University, and attending Harvard Business School in 2009 for the Advanced Management Program.

Lewis’s tenure as the CEO of Dow Jones and Company and publisher of the Wall Street Journal from 2014 to 2020 led a period of growth and digital transformation for the organization. Before joining Dow Jones, Lewis was at News Corp in the UK in 2010 as group general manager, overseeing the digital transformation of four masthead newsrooms. In 2013, he was appointed chief creative officer of News Corp.

Before Dow Jones, Lewis served as editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Media Group from 2005 to 2010. He joined the Telegraph from the Sunday Times, where he held the position of business editor. Prior to this role, he served as the global news editor of the Financial Times from 1994 to 2002, contributing to the expansion of the FT into the US market in 1997. His early career includes a role as a business reporter for the Mail on Sunday.

A noteworthy mark in Lewis's career came during the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal in the UK. The scandal exposed inappropriate expense claims by Members of Parliament. Lewis, then the editor of the Telegraph, approved the publication of the story after obtaining a disk with MPs' data. Lewis's decision had far-reaching consequences, leading to resignations, the establishment of a new oversight authority, and discussions about political reforms in the aftermath of the scandal.

Update (June 14, 2024, Damon Gitelman reporting) - Will Lewis is at the center of a reporting and newsroom management scandal that erupted with the sudden resignation of Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee, and the publication in the New York Times of information alleging that Lewis pressured National Public Radio (NPR) not to name him in their coverage of a phone-hacking conspiracy in the U.K. David Folkenflik of NPR claims that Lewis repeatedly offered him an exclusive interview, but only on the condition that NPR not identify Lewis as a participant in the coverup of the alleged conspiracy. Buzbee's resignation was apparently related to the same matter, coming after she was set to be demoted for carrying out publication of two articles in the Washington Post that included Lewis' possible role in the cover-up. Lewis has denied any wrongdoing.