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Veteran British media govt Sir Will Lewis has been named as the brand new writer and chief govt of The Washington Submit, because the newspaper group owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos seems to be to revive its fortunes.

Lewis, 54, has had a number of high-profile jobs within the media trade, together with being editor of the Each day Telegraph, writer of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Avenue Journal and chief govt of Dow Jones.

Most not too long ago he co-founded the Information Motion, an organisation looking for to supply dependable data on platforms with giant audiences of younger individuals, reminiscent of TikTok and YouTube.

The previous Monetary Instances journalist had additionally been within the operating to purchase the Each day Telegraph, which was put up on the market final month. In September, Lewis instructed Bloomberg that he had lined up funding for a bid for the paper. He plans to withdraw from the bidding course of, in keeping with an individual aware of the scenario.

Lewis will start his new function on the Washington Submit on January 2, and takes over from interim chief govt Patty Stonesifer. The US broadsheet has been looking for a brand new everlasting head because the departure this summer time of Fred Ryan, who had been chief govt and writer for nearly a decade.

In a press release, Bezos stated Lewis was “an distinctive, tenacious trade govt whose background in fierce, award-winning journalism makes him the best chief on the proper time”.

Lewis stated: “Main this daring media model means constructing on my dedication to championing high-quality journalism and safeguarding our democratic values.”

By becoming a member of the Washington Submit, Lewis provides to the ranks of British executives on the helm of high US media organisations. Earlier this yr, former BBC director-general Mark Thompson grew to become chief govt of cable TV information channel CNN, whereas Emma Tucker was named as editor-in-chief of The Wall Avenue Journal in December final yr.

After having fun with a surge in subscriptions through the presidency of Donald Trump, the Washington Submit has seen progress falter extra not too long ago. Final month Stonesifer, a board member at Amazon, instructed employees that projections for progress in promoting, web visitors and subscriptions had been “overly optimistic”, and introduced plans to cut back headcount by round 10 per cent by way of voluntary redundancy.

Lewis was given a knighthood earlier this yr for his “political and public service”, having been an adviser to former UK prime minister Boris Johnson.

Throughout his time as editor, Lewis and the Telegraph gained a number of awards for its investigation into the misuse of bills by British members of parliament.

Shortly after Lewis grew to become normal supervisor of Murdoch’s UK newspapers enterprise in 2010, one of many firm’s publications — the Information of the World tabloid — was engulfed in an unlawful phone-hacking scandal. Lower than a yr into the job, Lewis was seconded to an impartial committee inside Murdoch’s media empire chargeable for dealing with the corporate’s response. 

Further reporting by Daniel Thomas in London