In the last 12 months, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and CNN have all acquired new bosses—and each one is British, according to The Guardian. The CEO of the Washington Post is Will Lewis, who used to be editor of London’s The Telegraph. The new executive director of the Washington Post is Robert Winnett, who previously was deputy editor of The Telegraph. (Winnett started at The Telegraph as its political editor). Lewis instigated the changes at the Washington Post to bring on Winnett. Lewis and Winnett worked closely together at The Telegraph in the 2005-10 “expense report” scandals of British MPs, where their research involved paying £100,000 for the incriminating documents.
Some believe that the role of the Washington Post will concentrate more and more on scandal-mongering. The Post was profitable during the scandalous Trump White House years, but not recently. Even though Jeff Bezos is cutting 240 jobs, the Post still expects to lose another $77 million. Apparently they are desperate for more scandals.
The Wall Street Journal is run by Emma Tucker, former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday Times. (Will Lewis, before landing at the Post, spent time as the Wall Street Journal publisher.) Tucker has overseen the removal of some of the most senior journalists at the Journal and is working to make the Journal’s image a little less “staid.”
Sir Mark Thompson is the CEO of CNN after his time as director general of the BBC. (CNN also has a Hollywood connection, since it is owned by Warner Brothers.) Thompson was also CEO for several years at the New York Times. In 2005 Thompson went to Israel and signed an agreement with then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for BBC coverage in the region. Even by BBC standards, Thompson is considered as “biased” towards Israel. He once forced BBC radio to censor a rap song, “Free Palestine.”
