William Lewis (born 1969[1]) is a British journalist, working for News International's UK operation, who is a member of News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee (MSC).
The MSC is responsible for helping the police and other bodies find out the facts about the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The MSC is also charged with implementing new rules for journalists at News International. The MSC is chaired by Lord Grabiner and reports to Joel Klein, a member of the News Corp board.
Until being appointed to the MSC in July 2011, Lewis was group General Manager at News International in the UK, a post he held from September 2010. Before that he was editor-in-chief of the Telegraph Media Group, which publishes the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and telegraph.co.uk in London, from 2006 until May 2010. In September 2010 he joined News International, part of News Corporation and owner of The Sun, News of the World, The Times and Sunday Times.
As Telegraph editor and editor-in-chief, he oversaw the Telegraph's investigation into the parliamentary expenses scandal in May 2009. The expenses investigations stories saw The Daily Telegraph honoured at the British Press Awards as "Newspaper of the Year", with Lewis being named as "Journalist of the Year".
Background
He attended a comprehensive school in London, Whitefield School, before studying Politics and Economics at the University of Bristol, where he wrote for the student newspaper, Epigram.[1] He completed a postgraduate diploma in Periodical Journalism at City University.
Career
After graduation, he joined the Mail on Sunday as a business reporter[1] in 1991.[2] He later moved to the Financial Times, working there for eight years. His last job at the FT was news editor, having been the Mergers and Acquisitions Editor based in New York. In 1999 he broke the story that Exxon was merging with Mobil, then the biggest industrial merger.
Lewis was business editor of The Sunday Times from 2002 to 2005.[2]
Telegraph Media Group
Lewis joined the Daily Telegraph in 2005, as City editor and joint deputy editor.[1] Lewis was appointed editor of the Daily Telegraph on 9 October 2006, becoming the youngest ever editor of the newspaper.[3] Within a year of his appointment he was made editor-in-chief of the combined titles after working to integrate the publishing process across the group.[2]
As editor and editor-in-chief, he oversaw the Telegraph's investigation into the parliamentary expenses scandal in May 2009. The expenses investigations stories saw The Daily Telegraph honoured at the British Press Awards as "Newspaper of the Year", with Lewis being named "Journalist of the Year".[4]
During his time as editor, he also tried to encourage a broader debate at the Telegraph about the environment. The newspapers and website continued to house traditional global warming sceptics such as Christopher Booker and James Delingpole.[5] But he also recruited Geoffrey Lean, the respected environmental commentator to write a weekly column and lead the Telegraph's global warming coverage.[6]
He was succeeded in the editor's chair by Tony Gallagher in late 2009 but remained editor-in-chief and was promoted to manage the Telegraph Media Group's digital businesses, heading up the short-lived[7] Euston Partners, a new entrepreneurial digital division.[8] He left the Telegraph Media Group in May 2010, after a "disagreement" with chief executive Murdoch MacLennan about the strategic direction of Euston Partners.[9]
News International
In July 2010, he was appointed general manager for News International's stable of UK newspapers - The Sun, The Times, News of the World and The Sunday Times.[10]
Vince Cable leak
In December 2010, Daily Telegraph reporters secretly recorded the UK Business Secretary Vince Cable making a number of unguarded and controversial remarks about the UK government and also his view that "we have declared war on Murdoch". The Telegraph reported the remarks about government but did not publish his views on Murdoch. These views were controversial because Cable was overseeing the bid by Murdoch's News Corporation for all of BSkyB. The remarks about Murdoch were leaked to the BBC's Business Editor, Robert Peston.[11][12] He broadcast them to the consternation of the Telegraph and of Cable who was forced to step aside from his oversight of the BSkyB bid. In July 2011 Reuters reported that the corporate investigations firm Kroll had 'strong reasons' to suspect that Lewis had been involved in the leak to Peston. The leaks took place three months after Lewis left the Telegraph. They were seen to be of commercial benefit to News Corporation, the parent company of News International, in relation to the News Corporation takeover bid for BSkyB. Kroll interviewed several Telegraph journalists, and examined their email and phone records, but was unable to determine which disgruntled journalists decided to blow the whistle on the Telegraph's decision not to publish the Cable comments on Murdoch.
Awards
At the 2010 British Press Awards The Telegraph was named the "National Newspaper of the Year" for its coverage of the MPs expenses scandal (named "Scoop of the Year"), with Lewis winning "Journalist of the Year" for his role.[13]
Personal life
Lewis is married with three children; he met his wife as an undergraduate at the University of Bristol.[1]
His brother Simon Lewis was the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Director of Communication, and is now chief executive of the Association of Financial Markets Europe.
In July 2010 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws from Bristol University.[14] In September 2010 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Lincoln.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d e The Observer, 24 May 2009, Will Lewis: the man with an expense account
- ^ a b c guardian.co.uk, 14 July 2008, 37. Will Lewis
- ^ 'Telegraph' appoints 37-year-old as editor, The Independent, 10 October 2006
- ^ The Guardian, 24 March 2010, Daily Telegraph dominates British Press Awards with expenses exposé
- ^ Christopher Booker's wilful climate change ignorance gathers pace, James Randerson, guardian.co.uk, 25 February 2009
- ^ The Guardian, 9 June 2009, Environment editor Geoffrey Lean to leave Independent on Sunday
- ^ Telegraph to fold Euston Project into Victoria HQ Mark Sweney, guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 June 2010
- ^ Telegraph Media Group promotes Will Lewis and Tony Gallagher, Stephen Brook, guardian.co.uk, 26 November 2009
- ^ Will Lewis out at Telegraph Media Group, Jane Martinson and Jason Deans, guardian.co.uk, 5 May 2010
- ^ Will Lewis is named as News Int general manager, Dominic Ponsford, pressgazette.co.uk, 8 July 2010
- ^ "Exclusive - News Corp exec suspected of "orchestrating" leak". Reuters. 22 July 2011. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/22/uk-newscorp-lewis-idUKTRE76L30S20110722. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ "News Corp boss 'linked' to leak of Vince Cable's Rupert Murdoch comments". The Guardian. 22 July 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/22/willlewis-telegraphmediagroup. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
- ^ Press Gazette, Roll of Honour, accessed 24 July 2011
- ^ http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2010/7127.html
- ^ http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/news/2010/09/269.asp
| Media offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sarah Sands |
Deputy Editor of the Daily Telegraph with Neil Darbyshire 2005–2006 |
Succeeded by Ian MacGregor |
| Preceded by John Bryant |
Editor of The Daily Telegraph 2006–2009 |
Succeeded by Tony Gallagher |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recent Comments