Robert Winnett, who was slated to take over as The Washington Post’s executive editor in November, will not be taking the position and will remain in his role as the deputy editor of The Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“I’m pleased to report that Rob Winnett has decided to stay with us,” Telegraph editor Chris Evans wrote in an e-mail to his staff obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “As you all know he’s a talented chap and their loss is our gain.”
Winnett’s reversal comes amidst a full-scale revolt amongst WaPo staffers against their boss, publisher Will Lewis, who handpicked Winnett to take over the news room. Winnett was hired, alongside former Wall Street Journal editor in chief Matthew Murray, to take over for recently departed editor Sally Buzbee.
WaPo staff excoriated Lewis for his decision to replace a woman with two white men, Vanity Fair reported. This has led to senior-level staffers openly calling for Lewis’ firing, according to CNN. (RELATED: Liberal Media At A Crossroads — Start Winning Again, Or Cave To Ideologically-Obsessed Activists)
The mutiny forced WaPo’s owner Jeff Bezos to issue a statement of support for Lewis on Tuesday.
The calls for his firing and internal complaints about his editorial choices ran concurrent with an outside media campaign to drip-feed the public with negative stories about Lewis and his editor picks. WaPo itself published a hit piece on Winnett about his work at the Sunday Times, accusing him of using stolen material to report on stories.
The outlet also ran a negative story about Lewis surrounding his involvement with news mogul Rupert Murdoch and his phone hacking scandal.
