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☆ Will Lewis Says He Helped Hacking Investigation. Scotland Yard Had Doubts.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Jo Becker | Justin Scheck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Will Lewis, now the publisher of the Washington Post, was in full crisis mode in 2011. Then an executive at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, he was an intermediary to the police detectives investigating a British phone-hacking scandal that had placed the company’s journalists and top leaders in legal peril. For years, reporters at News Corporation’s best-selling British tabloid had landed scoops by paying public officials and illegally listening to the voice mail messages of royals, politicians, celebrities and even a murdered girl. Mr. Lewis was supposed to cooperate with police, identify wrongdoing and help steer the company through the crisis. His role, he would later say, was as a force for good.

Persons: Will Lewis, Lewis Organizations: Washington Post, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, The New York Times, London’s Metropolitan Police, News Corp

☆ Washington Post CEO Will Lewis faced with new allegations of phone hacking
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-16 | by ( Eva Rothenberg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Citing a former co-worker of Lewis’, a private investigator and its own investigation of newspaper archives, the New York Times said Lewis used phone and company records that were “fraudulently obtained” through hacking and paying sources for information. A spokesperson for the Washington Post told CNN Lewis declined to comment. The Washington Post did not respond to CNN with regard to these allegations. “It’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it, truly,” one staffer said earlier this month, noting that the Washington Post has hit “rough patches” before but that the stormy atmosphere hanging over the outlet is unprecedented. In an opinion piece for the Guardian on Wednesday, Sullivan wrote that firing Lewis and finding a new CEO is “the cleanest, best move” Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos could make.

Persons: Will Lewis, Lewis ’, Lewis, “, Margaret Sullivan, Craig Newmark, Sally Buzbee, CNN Lewis, Rupert Murdoch’s, Prince Harry, Guy Ritchie, Hugh Grant, Buzbee, ”, “ It’s, Sullivan, Jeff Bezos, Bezos, — Organizations: New, New York CNN, New York Times, Times, Craig Newmark Center for Journalism, Columbia University’s School of Journalism, CNN, of Professional Journalists, Washington Post, Washington, Murdoch’s News Corporation, NPR, The Washington Post, Guardian, ” Washington Post Locations: New York, Washington, London

☆ Washington Post Publisher and Incoming Editor Are Said to Have Used Stolen Records in Britain
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-15 | by ( Justin Scheck | Jo Becker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The publisher and incoming editor of The Washington Post used fraudulently obtained phone and company records in newspaper articles as journalists in London, according to a former colleague, the published account of a private investigator and an analysis of newspaper archives. Will Lewis, The Post’s publisher, assigned one of the articles in 2004 as business editor of The Sunday Times. Another was written by Robert Winnett, whom Mr. Lewis recently announced as The Post’s next executive editor. The use of deception, hacking and fraud is at the heart of a long-running British newspaper scandal, one that toppled a major tabloid in 2010 and led to years of lawsuits by celebrities who said that reporters improperly obtained their personal documents and voice mail messages. Mr. Lewis has maintained that his only involvement in the controversy was helping to root out problematic behavior after the fact, while working for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Persons: Will Lewis, Robert Winnett, Lewis, Rupert Organizations: The Washington Post, Sunday Times, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation Locations: London

CNN —William Lewis, the new publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post, reportedly tried to kill a story about his alleged involvement in a UK phone hacking scandal coverup, offering an NPR reporter an interview in exchange for squashing the forthcoming article. The decade-old UK scandal that engulfed right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s “News of the World” tabloid, was revived in recent years in a new lawsuit filed by Prince Harry and other notable figures including Guy Ritchie and Hugh Grant. Despite Lewis’ attempt to squash the story, NPR published the article in late December under the headline “New ‘Washington Post’ CEO accused of Murdoch tabloid hacking cover-up,” featuring a 2011 photo of Lewis with Murdoch. According to the Times, Lewis told Buzbee the story didn’t warrant coverage in the newspaper. Days later, when the judge in the UK case allowed allegations about Lewis to be included in the lawsuit, the Post published another story naming him.

Persons: William Lewis, Rupert Murdoch’s, Prince Harry, Guy Ritchie, Hugh Grant, Lewis, David Folkenflik, —, heatedly —, ” Folkenflik, ”, Lewis ’, Murdoch, Sally Buzbee, Buzbee, Matt Murray, Sally, ” Lewis, “ Organizations: CNN, The Washington Post, Murdoch’s News Corporation, NPR, “, Wall, Washington Post, ‘ Washington Post, New York Times, Times, Post, Wall Street Locations: Rupert Murdoch’s “, ‘ Washington

☆ Australia Voice referendum: Far from uniting the nation, the vote has revealed its priorities and prejudices
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

There would be a referendum within his first term to recognize Indigenous Australians in the constitution and create a permanent body – a Voice to Parliament – to allow them to speak directly to government. Yes voters are much younger, live in the inner-city and voted for the Labor Party or Greens. Paul Smith, Director Government and Social Australia, at YouGov says the young-old divide in this referendum indicates a generational difference in world view. Daniel Morrison-Bird has been door-knocking for months in Perth, Western Australia to convince people to vote Yes. Gerber said far from dividing the country, the Voice is an invitation from Indigenous Australians to form a closer relationship.

Persons: Anthony Albanese, –, ” Albanese, “, ”, Paul Strangio, Bianca De Marchi, Strangio, they’re pigeonholed, ’ ”, Paul Smith, Smith, Axel Bruns, Bruns, Asanka Ratnayake, D’sa, D’Sa, Daniel Morrison, Bird, they’ve, Morrison, “ You’ll, I’ve, He’s, “ I’ve, it’s, Paula Gerber, ” “, Gerber, “ We’ve Organizations: Australia CNN —, Australian, Monash University, Qantas, Liberal, National Party coalition, Labor Party, Greens, Government, Social Australia, Torres Strait Islanders, Digital Media Research, Queensland University of Technology, Sky News, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, Voice Advisory Group, Corporation, Wungening Aboriginal Corporation, Indigenous Locations: Brisbane, Australia, United States, Britain, Sydney, Corporates, YouGov, Melbourne, United Kingdom, Portuguese, Australian, Perth, Western Australia

☆ Herbert J. Siegel, Investor in Major Media Deals, Dies at 95
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Sam Roberts | More About Sam Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Herbert J. Siegel, a maverick investor who became a billionaire entertainment-industry mogul most notable for finally enabling the merger of Warner Communications and Time Inc. in 1989 and for selling 10 television stations to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation in 2000, died on Saturday at his home in Manhattan. Mr. Siegel, the gregarious son of an immigrant garment manufacturer, combined his boyhood passions — deal-making and an infatuation with the film industry — to reap massive profits. The humorist Art Buchwald once said that Mr. Siegel deserved an Academy Award for having earned the most money in Hollywood without ever making a movie. Mr. Siegel got started young; he was still in college when, flush with a trust fund from his father, he sought to purchase a 20 percent stake in the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League for $60,000. His bid was unsuccessful, so instead he bought an interest in a company that packaged television programs and that was partly owned by his father-in-law, an organizer of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

Persons: Herbert J, Siegel, Jeanne, —, Art Buchwald Organizations: Warner Communications, Time Inc, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, Hollywood, Philadelphia Eagles, National Football League, Columbia Broadcasting System Locations: Rupert, Manhattan

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