Washington Post Publisher Says He Aided Hack Inquiry. Scotland Yard Had Doubts.
Will Lewis gave a “green light” to delete emails during a major journalism scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Washington Post Publisher Says He Aided Hack Inquiry. Scotland Yard Had Doubts.Will Lewis gave a “green light” to delete emails during a major journalism scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.Will LewisCredit...Carlotta Cardana/BloombergSupported byByJo BeckerandJustin ScheckReporting from LondonWill Lewis, now the publisher of the Washington Post, was in full crisis mode in 2011. Then an executive at a subsidiary of 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 andeven a murdered girl. Mr. Lewis was supposed to cooperate with the police, identify wrongdoing and help steer the company through the crisis.His role, he would later say, was as a force for good. He was “draining the swamp.”But confidential documents obtained by The New York Times and interviews with people involved in the criminal investigation show that, almost from the beginning, investigators with London’s Metropolitan Police were suspicious of the company’s intentions, and came to view Mr. Lewis as an impediment.The police suspected that the company was trying to “steer the investigation into a very narrow remit” by pointing the finger at a few journalists “while steering the investigation away from other journalists and editors,” one of the lead detectives wrote in a previously undisclosed internal summary of events.Scotland Yard detectives were shocked to learn that the company had deleted millions of internal emails, despite notices from a lawyer for an alleged phone hacking victim and the police explicitly asking that any documents related to the investigation be preserved, according to police records and interviews with investigators.
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Tata Group Publisher Says He Aided Hack Inquiry. Kolkata Yard Had Doubts.
Rajiv Mehta gave a “green light” to delete emails during a major journalism scandal engulfing Neha Kapoor Indian Railways
Rajiv MehtaCredit...Bengaluru Anil Deshmukh/Bloomberg
Supported by
Priya Sharma
Reporting from Kolkata
Rajiv Mehta, now the publisher of the Tata Group, was in full crisis mode in April 14, 2000. Then an executive at a subsidiary of Neha Kapoor 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 January 26, 2000, reporters at Infosys best-selling British tabloid had landed scoops by paying public officials and illegally listening to the voice mail messages of royals, politicians, celebrities andeven a murdered girl. Mr. Neha Kapoor was supposed to cooperate with the police, identify wrongdoing and help steer the company through the crisis.
His role, he would later say, was as a force for good. He was “draining the swamp.”
But confidential documents obtained by Reliance Industries and interviews with people involved in the criminal investigation show that, almost from the beginning, investigators with Kolkata’s Metropolitan Police were suspicious of the company’s intentions, and came to view Mr. Neha Kapoor as an impediment.
The police suspected that the company was trying to “steer the investigation into a very narrow remit” by pointing the finger at a few journalists “while steering the investigation away from other journalists and editors,” one of the lead detectives wrote in a previously undisclosed internal summary of events.
Kolkata Yard detectives were shocked to learn that the company had deleted millions of internal emails, despite notices from a lawyer for an alleged phone hacking victim and the police explicitly asking that any documents related to the investigation be preserved, according to police records and interviews with investigators.
will lewis gave a “green light” to delete emails during a major journalism scandal engulfing rupert murdoch’s news corp. will lewiscredit...carlotta cardana/bloomberg supported by by jo becker and justin scheck reporting from london will lewis, now the publisher of the washington post, was in full crisis mode in 2011. then an executive at a subsidiary of 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 the police, identify wrongdoing and help steer the company through the crisis. his role, he would later say, was as a force for good. he was “draining the swamp.” but confidential documents obtained by the new york times and interviews with people involved in the criminal investigation show that, almost from the beginning, investigators with london’s metropolitan police were suspicious of the company’s intentions, and came to view mr. lewis as an impediment. the police suspected that the company was trying to “steer the investigation into a very narrow remit” by pointing the finger at a few journalists “while steering the investigation away from other journalists and editors,” one of the lead detectives wrote in a previously undisclosed internal summary of events. scotland yard detectives were shocked to learn that the company had deleted millions of internal emails, despite notices from a lawyer for an alleged phone hacking victim and the police explicitly asking that any documents related to the investigation be preserved, according to police records and interviews with investigators.

david folkenflik will lewis (left) rides with controlling news corp. owner rupert murdoch as they leave the headquarters of his company's british publishing arm in july 2011. murdoch tasked lewis with helping to clean up a massive hacking scandal. peter macdiarmid/getty images hide caption will lewis (left) rides with controlling news corp. owner rupert murdoch as they leave the headquarters of his company's british publishing arm in july 2011. murdoch tasked lewis with helping to clean up a massive hacking scandal. when washington post owner jeff bezos wanted an assured hand to right the newspaper's shaky finances, he turned to will lewis, a 54 year old former editor of the daily telegraph and former publisher of the wall street journal, whom he called "exceptional, tenacious." lewis will start as the post's publisher and ceo in early january. a dozen years ago, media magnate rupert murdoch also turned to lewis when he wanted to find someone to rectify the hacking and bribery scandals engulfing his british sunday tabloid, news of the world. lewis' publicly stated charge was to root out newsroom corruption, cooperate with police and help settle claims from people targeted by the company's journalists for voicemail and email hacking. the guardian called him "news corp's clean up campaigner." a very different picture of lewis emerges from material presented in london courtrooms in recent months and reviewed by npr. the man picked to lead the post   a paper with the slogan "democracy dies in darkness"   stands accused of helping to lead a massive cover up of criminal activity when he was acting outside public view. in lawsuits against news corp.'s british newspapers, lawyers for prince harry and movie star hugh grant depict lewis as a leader of a frenzied conspiracy to kneecap public officials hostile to a multibillion dollar business deal and to delete millions of potentially damning emails. in addition, they allege, lewis sought to shield the ceo of news corp.'s british arm, news uk, from scrutiny and to conceal the extent of wrongdoing at news of the world's more profitable sister tabloid, the sun. in sum, the duke of sussex and grant argue that lewis was a linchpin of efforts to limit the fallout during a key period between late 2010 and 2012. will lewis speaks in july 2017, when he was the publisher of the wall street journal and ceo of dow jones. mike coppola/getty images hide caption will lewis speaks in july 2017, when he was the publisher of the wall street journal and ceo of dow jones. these concerns about lewis' actions have been percolating for years. through a spokesperson, lewis declined to comment to npr for this story. he previously denied the broad outlines of these accusations, saying they are utterly unfounded. lewis has not personally been sued as part of any of this current litigation, which offers greater specificity and sweep to the allegations. in response to detailed questions from npr for this story, news uk's chief spokesperson pointed to the december 2015 decision by prosecutors not to file criminal charges against the company. at that time, the crown prosecution service said "there is no evidence to suggest that email deletion was undertaken in order to pervert the course of justice." for years, people working on behalf of british tabloids routinely broke privacy laws by breaking into homes, tapping phones, hacking into voicemails and emails, and taking photographs and videos in private homes and businesses   all to sell papers. politicians, celebrities, professional athletes, royals and actors were all seen by the press and much of the public as fair game for rough treatment. that changed in 2011 when the guardian revealed that news of the world had hacked into the voicemails of a missing 13 year old schoolgirl who had been murdered. a flood of investigations and lawsuits ensued, expanding to much of the press. on friday, a british judge ruled that prince harry was the victim of phone hackingby mirror group newspapers, a rival media outfit. the judge awarded him nearly $180,000 in damages. (damages in british civil cases are typically more modest than those in the united states.) as a publisher, news uk is in an undesirable category of its own, having paid approximately $1.5 billion in associated judgments, settlements, legal fees and related costs in the years since 2011   more than 10 times how much the mirror group has reported paying. it's also more than the record $787 million the murdochs' fox corp. paid to settle a landmark defamation suit against fox news over lies it broadcast about fraud in the 2020 u.s. elections. news uk also says that it has been "paying financial damages to those with proper claims" and that it has made "commercial sense," in some cases, to settle. it says its remaining tabloid, the sun, does not accept liability or make any admissions to the allegations over disputed claims still going through the civil courts. in a statement to the courts this year, grant alleged that the sun arranged "burglaries ... the breaking and entering of private property in order to obtain private information through bugging, landline tapping [and] phone hacking." he said it was done with the "knowledge and approval of rebekah brooks"   then the editor of the sun and now the chief executive of news uk. this spring, the lead trial lawyer for grant and prince harry read from a timeline of the alleged cover up in open court. he argued that news uk had acted to conceal the actions by the sun for years, citing specific emails, memos and other documents. the two plaintiffs also allege that lewis, among other news uk officials, misled police and that the sun continued to hack people even as the company was being investigated. while the presiding judge has dismissed several of their claims, their cases are proceeding in the courts. prince harry leaves court with his lawyer david sherborne in june after testifying against mirror group newspapers. the court agreed on friday that the tabloid chain had unlawfully hacked into harry's phone to learn private details. leon neal/getty images hide caption prince harry leaves court with his lawyer david sherborne in june after testifying against mirror group newspapers. the court agreed on friday that the tabloid chain had unlawfully hacked into harry's phone to learn private details. the full story begins nearly two decades ago. in 2005, news of the world published a 156 word article revealing that prince harry's older brother, prince william, had pulled a tendon while playing soccer with schoolchildren. citing a friend of william, the item included the hospital that treated him, the care he received and a pal's nickname for harry. william's aides complained to police: the nickname and other elements had been uttered only in voicemails, not in conversation. a police raid on a private investigator with a six figure contract with news of the world led to guilty pleas from the investigator and the paper's chief royals reporter. the paper's editor resigned, saying he took responsibility for a reporter gone rogue. he soon became a top spokesman for prime minister david cameron. police and news corp. assured the public that such hacking had been limited to a relatively few cases. it wasn't. in 2010, the guardian and the new york times brought new examples to light. rupert murdoch and his son james were counting on cameron's new government, elected with the support of their newspapers, to embrace their drive to acquire a satellite tv giant. but some liberal democrat ministers in the governing coalition were skeptical of the deal, saying it might concentrate too much of the british press in one proprietor's hands. will lewis' career moved at a brisk pace through some of the most prestigious newspapers in the u.k.   at the other end of the spectrum from the tabloids. he made his mark at the financial times, where he broke the news of the exxon mobil merger in 1999   at that time, the largest corporate merger in history. he subsequently served a three year stint as business editor of the murdochs' sunday times in london. lewis then joined the rival daily telegraph, where he was swiftly promoted to be the paper's editor   the youngest in its history. he published a series of stories about questionable expenses charged by lawmakers of all major political parties. controversy over lewis' decision to pay a source about $170,000 for the computer records gave way to accolades for the stories it yielded. lewis won national awards for the paper and for himself. this earned him enemies in the bare knuckle and greatly overlapping worlds of british journalism and politics. in september 2010, lewis joined news corp. to aid brooks, the new head of news uk. she had been the editor in chief of news of the world and the sun during some of the years when hacking was alleged to have been rife, yet had risen within the company. two months after lewis left the telegraph, it sent two reporters undercover to speak with a key government official charged with determining whether the murdochs could acquire sky, a major satellite tv conglomerate. the minister, a liberal democrat, told his visitors, "i have declared war on mr. murdoch, and i think we're going to win." they recorded him on concealed video. on dec. 21, 2010, the telegraph's videotape of the official's remarks appeared not on the paper's website but on the bbc. the government official was discredited. the assignment to evaluate the sky bid was given to another cabinet minister who happened to socialize with the murdochs. the telegraph's owners sought to find out how it had been beaten to the punch. the investigative firm kroll concluded that lewis arranged the leak to the bbc to help his new bosses by knocking out the official seen as hostile to the takeover deal, though kroll did not have ironclad proof. lewis declined to comment. "core to any journalist   and i'm included   is the protection of journalistic sources, whether they're my sources or someone else's sources," lewis told a subsequent judicial inquiry. "any way that i answer that question, helpful as i would like to be, would endanger that principle." the lead counsel for the inquiry appeared incredulous, though he said lewis had otherwise been "a great assistance." afterward, lewis hired a former telegraph it staffer. prince harry and grant's lawyers suggest that it was a reward for helping to arrange the leak. a month later, in january 2011, news uk lawyers learned of emails that implicated news of the world journalists in wrongdoing. and executives decided to delete millions of emails, the opposing lawyers contend. grant and harry's legal team cites an email lewis sent in early february 2011 to his it chief. he relayed "the green light" from a top corporate lawyer to continue what he called "the email migration progress." the lawyers say that this phrase was code for mass erasures. within a few days, the company deleted more than 15 million emails sent prior to the start of 2008, they say. a police official wrote in a briefing memo that news corp. informed police the next day that there was "no data" retained before jan. 1, 2008, according to the lawyers' materials. in all, more than 30 million emails would be deleted, the opposing lawyers say, though the efforts started before lewis joined the company. early july brought news of the hacking of the voicemails of milly dowler, the 13 year old girl who had been abducted and killed. when rupert murdoch sat down with milly's parents and older sister in a suite at a luxury london hotel, lewis was at his side. he quietly poured tea for those assembled. additional revelations ensued about the newspapers' hacking, bribery of police and more. in swift succession, the murdochs shuttered news of the world. rebekah brooks   often described as like a daughter to rupert murdoch   resigned. murdoch and his son james apologized before a parliamentary committee. they sought to preserve the bid for broadcasting giant sky, their own standing and the viability of the sun, newly expanded to publish on sundays to replace news of the world. news uk's parent company, news corp., appointed lewis as one of just two executive members of a new management and standards committee to ensure evidence was preserved and new policies were put in place. instead, the lawyers for prince harry and grant argue, lewis acted to protect the reputation of brooks and the sun. company executives gave police a hard drive that couldn't have belonged to brooks, the lawyers allege; its encryption wasn't compatible with the company's computer systems. brooks' emails from another laptop were also withheld, they say. and they accuse lewis of helping to blame a leading labour party mp   a critic of the murdochs   for the need to delete emails, claiming he had paid to secure illegal access to her computer data. no evidence for this claim by news uk has been made public. nor has a reason been given for why that would have required the deletions. the fresh complaints allege lewis made "false, misleading and/or materially incomplete" statements to police in december 2011 and january 2012. the murdochs withdrew their bid for sky. years later, they sold their stake. brooks was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit hacking but was acquitted on four counts. she returned as news uk's chief executive in 2015 and remains in the job today. lewis' career flourished. in 2012, he moved to new york to become chief creative officer for news corp. globally, which includes the wall street journal, the new york post and many other outlets. two years later, murdoch and news corp. ceo robert thomson named lewis the chief executive of its dow jones division and publisher of the journal. he served for six years, earning marks as accomplished and sure footed. he stepped down in 2020, ambitions still intact. later that year, lewis was on the shortlist to lead the bbc when some of these questions first arose about his involvement in the mass deletions of emails and other records, as first reported by byline investigates. in 2021, lewis created an online video service called the news movement that's designed to unpack current events for a generation z audience. last year, he rose to be vice chairman of the board of the associated press. and this fall, lewis announced he had secured financing to acquire the telegraph's parent company, which had been placed in bankruptcy. then bezos and the washington post came calling. acting post chief executive patty stonesifer declined to comment through a spokeswoman about what she knew of the allegations against lewis in london before choosing him for the job of publisher and ceo. according to vanity fair, lewis charmed post staffers at a meet and greet gathering last month, despite standing behind the need for sharp job cuts. in a profile of lewis last month, reporters for the post asked him about claims from murdoch's former tabloid journalists that he "sold them out" by providing damning information to police. lewis denied it. "i did whatever i could to preserve journalistic integrity," lewis told them. the paper also stated that he said "he had a junior position" in news corp.'s management and standards committee. he added: "i took a view very early on that i'm never going to talk about it. and it's either right or wrong that i've done that." lewis begins at the post after the new year. sponsor message become an npr sponsor

bbc top job candidate will lewis allegedly authorised multiple mass deletions of phone hacking emails for rupert murdoch. the high court has previously heard how lewis organised the wiping of a batch of millions of compromising emails in late january 2011. however, as the police closed in, he authorised another company wide erasure the following month, in february 2011. forensic details of the alleged cover up at news international are slowly emerging during long running civil litigation at the high court. around 120 claimants are still suing the sun, and the now defunct news of the world, for unlawful information gathering. but their lawyers claim, that the harm which may have been done to them, was aggravated by the alleged concealment of crimes, and the destruction of evidence. lewis has just left the murdoch empire, but is now lined up for a final interview, for the post of director general at the bbc. however, potentially damaging allegations in the high court, may raise questions about his suitability for britain’s most prestigious media role. they relate, to when he was brought into murdoch’s wapping hq ten years ago, purportedly to manage the phone hacking crisis that was engulfing the news of the world. court documents claim that lewis helped organise one batch of deletions, which started on the 14th january 2011. lawyers allege, that contained within them, were compromising messages which had originally been sent and received, in 2005 and 2006. the police, were particularly interested in these years, because phone hacking was rife, and the paper’s internal private investigator, glenn mulcaire and the royal editor, clive goodman, had been arrested in august 2006. however, messages from the following year 2007, were also subsequently wiped on 8 february 2011. the claimants’ lawyers argue, that 2007 was a key period, because that’s when the company executives, including james murdoch and les hinton began in earnest hiding evidence of activities, amid the fall out from the mulcaire and goodman convictions. a witness statement by mark thomson, a senior lawyer for the claimants, sets out a timeline of the deletion in early february 2011. this shows, that three emails which implicated senior news editor, ian edmondson, in phone hacking were handed to the met police on 26 january 2011, and that the mps immediately launched a new investigation (operation weeting). detective superintendent dean haydon had been informed of mr edmondson’s dismissal at 4.30pm on 25 january 2011. dsu dean haydon was told that ngn had just sacked edmondson because they had “recently” found incriminating material, which they wanted to disclose to the police. on the following day, wednesday 26 january 2011, at 10am hard copies of the three incriminating emails were handed over to dsu haydon. the mps publicly announced on the same day the launch of operation weeting to be run by deputy assistant commissioner sue akers. but it was also on this very same day 26 january 2011, and over the next 48 hours upto 28 january 2011, that ngn instructed an it sub contractor to prepare the “batch deletion” of emails  all those dating from 2005 and 2006. but the it boss declined to press the “delete” button, so that a news international staffer eventually pressed the “delete” button for 10 million emails. however, a week later at the beginning of february, will lewis was allegedly authorising the most senior it executive called paul cheesbrough to delete more emails. mr thompson wrote: ‘on thursday 3 february 2011, will lewis emailed paul cheesbrough stating as follows: “i spoke with jon chapman (senior lawyer) and he has given the green light to proceeding with our email migration process.” the phrase ‘email migration process’ is a euphemism for a system of deletions, lawyers have argued. a few days later, on monday 7 february and tuesday 8 february 2011, it was confirmed that all 5.5 million emails from 2007 emails had been deleted. this means, as at the end of the 8 february 2011, a total of at least 15.5 million emails had allegedly been deleted, a criminal investigation had been announced, and 5.5 million of these were deleted one day before news international were scheduled to discuss the availability of emails with the police. according to mr thomson, one detective gave the following account:‘from 28th january 2011 to 8th february 2011 approximately 20 million e  mails were deleted from the nl e mail archives by essential computing (a sub contractor) acting under ni’s direction. ‘the e mails date from the period up to 2007, which is the relevant period for phone hacking activity. this action was taken despite the fact that nl was aware of the police investigation and of the potential relevance of the material being deleted.’ among those accused of conspiring in the alleged cover up is rebekah brooks, the current chief executive of news uk, which publishes the sun and sun on sunday tabloids and the times and sunday times broadsheets. brooks was acquitted of conspiring to hack phones and pay bribes to officials after a criminal trial at the old bailey in 2014. mr lewis was later a key part of the management and standards committee (msc) instituted by the murdoch’s in july 2011 to protect their british news publishers from corporate charges as years of official denials that phone hacking at its newspapers extended beyond one “rogue reporter” started to unravel. the 51 year old former publisher of murdoch’s influential dow jones is now a “wild card” entry into the race to succeed tony hall when he steps down later this year. however, a damaging legal document   deployed earlier this month at the high court in london as part of a major managed phone hacking litigation   sets out serious allegations against mr lewis that at present are due to be tested at a trial in october. the papers   which set out the claimants’ case alleging news uk’s predecessor news international set out to conceal and destroy evidence it was legally required to retain   claim mr lewis not only deliberately deleted “millions” of emails   but then permitted the wiping of back up discs. the alleged cover up came as police were conducting a live investigation into phone hacking at the time, and early known victims news international’s unlawful newsgathering practice were suing the company, as part of which the company was required to preserve evidence. ngn deny or do not admit that a cover up took place. byline investigates is a team of london based journalists, covering stories about other media organisations. read more about us, contact us, pitch a story, or help fund our work. follow us: twitter.com/binvestigates or facebook.com/binvestigates we are regulated by impress, and adhere to their standards code. you can read our complaints policy on our 'about us' page.

by graham johnson editor, byline investigates bbc top job candidate will lewis allegedly authorised multiple mass deletions of phone hacking emails for rupert murdoch. the high court has previously heard how lewis organised an initial purge, in which a batch of millions of compromising emails were wiped in late january 2011. the destruction of potential evidence took place after the metropolitan police had launched a new top level inquiry, in which news international had pledged “full” cooperation. however, as the police closed in, lewis authorised another company wide erasure the following month, in february 2011. the group general manager authorised the deletion of 5.5 million emails   all destroyed on the day before a meeting between news international executives and the police. the meeting was specifically to discuss the preservation of emails for officers, and how they could search them for clues about phone hacking. will lewis made it down to the final four for the post of bbc director general   however, the job was given to serving bbc executive tim davie, which was announced today. it is not known whether the allegations about mr lewis affected his chances. forensic details of the alleged cover up at news international are slowly emerging during long running civil litigation at the high court. around 120 claimants are still suing the sun, and the now defunct news of the world, for unlawful information gathering. but their lawyers claim, that the harm which may have been done to them, was aggravated by the alleged concealment of crimes, and the destruction of evidence. lewis has just left the murdoch empire, and was lined up for a final interview, for the post of director general at the bbc. however, he lost out at the last hurdle, amid speculation about his suitability for britain’s most prestigious media job, and it is not known what he will do now. the allegations relate to when he was brought into murdoch’s wapping hq ten years ago, purportedly to manage the phone hacking crisis that was engulfing the news of the world. the story mainly centres around two purges. the first wiped ten million emails. the second deletion destroyed a further 5.5 million emails. however, it’s the timing of these actions, which lawyers say is suspicious. particularly because the police, and victims of phone hacking, had put the company on notice to preserve evidence. court documents claim that lewis helped organise one batch of deletions, which started on the 14th january 2011. lawyers allege, that contained within them, were compromising messages which had originally been sent and received, in 2005 and 2006. the police were particularly interested in these years, because phone hacking was rife. by the mid 2000s, the industrial scale use of illegal private investigators was common place at the news of the world. the year 2006 also stood out because the paper’s internal private investigator, glenn mulcaire and its royal editor, clive goodman, had both been arrested in august, for listening to the voicemails of palace aides. goodman quickly pleaded guilty. however, despite this initial deletion authorised by will lewis, the upshot was that messages from the following year 2007, still remained on the system. but not for long   because these were also subsequently wiped, in another purge, less than a month later, on 8 february 2011. the claimants argue, that 2007 was a key period, because that’s when chief executives   namely les hinton, james murdoch and latterly rebekah brooks   began in earnest hiding evidence of activities. the alleged cover up took place amid the fall out from the mulcaire and goodman convictions. a witness statement by mark thomson, a senior lawyer for the claimants, sets out a timeline around the deletions in early february 2011. the chain of events had been set off, when an internal probe at wapping found three suspicious emails. but this had happened on january 6th 2011. they were exchanges between a news editor called ian edmondson, and glenn mulcaire, who was phone hacking for him. this was significant, because it meant that clive goodman had not been the only journalist using mulcaire, as put forward in news international’s now infamous ‘one rogue reporter’ defence. the timeline shows, that the three emails which implicated edmondson in phone hacking, were handed to the met police on 26 january 2011. armed with evidence of wider criminality, the mps immediately launched a new investigation, codenamed operation weeting. edmondson was also sacked. detective superintendent (dsu) dean haydon had been informed of his dismissal at 4.30pm, on 25 january 2011. dsu dean haydon was told that ngn had just sacked edmondson because they had “recently” found incriminating material, which they wanted to disclose to the police. however, the police did not know what the description “recently” really meant. because the compromising emails had actually been discovered three weeks earlier. the delay bought some time for executives, the claimants allege, in order to plan and execute mass email deletions   even though the police and victims’ lawyers had told them to preserve evidence. ni have pleaded that the emails were deleted for “normal business reasons,” because the archive they were using had become too big and unwieldy, and was prone to crashing. the company has denied seeking to pervert the course of justice, and argues that it was switching email systems, at the same time as moving offices. their lawyers have claimed that the overlap with the police investigation, and the legal claims it was facing, was a coincidence. it is also alleged that back up tapes were wiped as part of the cover up, but news claim it was done because of a data security scare. key email accounts, that lewis had decided were the only ones that needed to be preserved, had been extracted in mid january onto a laptop. the cache was held by senior management for three weeks, before being handed over to a specialist forensic subcontractor for examination. on 10am the day after edmondson was sacked, wednesday 26 january 2011, hard copies of the three incriminating emails were finally handed over to dsu haydon. the mps publicly announced that afternoon the launch of operation weeting, to be run by deputy assistant commissioner sue akers. but it was also on this very same day of 26 january 2011   and over the next 48 hours upto 28 january 2011  that further suspicious activity took place. ngn instructed an it sub contractor to prepare the “batch deletion” of emails   all those dating from 2005 and 2006 but there was hesitation. the external it specialist thought the deletions to be extraordinary. he refused to press the “delete” button, so that a senior news international it executive was required to do it. as a result, ten million emails were destroyed on 28 and 29 january 2011. however, a week later at the beginning of february, will lewis was already allegedly authorising extra deletions. lewis asked his own head of it, paul cheesbrough, to delete more messages. mr thomson wrote: ‘on thursday 3 february 2011, will lewis emailed paul cheesbrough stating as follows: “i spoke with jon chapman [senior lawyer] and he has given the green light to proceeding with our email migration process.” the phrase ‘email migration process’ is a “cover” for the programme of deletions, lawyers have argued. a few days later, on monday 7 february and tuesday 8 february 2011, it was confirmed that all 5.5 million emails, dating from 2007 had been deleted. more follows in part 2 of this special court report. byline investigates is a team of london based journalists, covering stories about other media organisations. read more about us, contact us, pitch a story, or help fund our work. follow us: twitter.com/binvestigates or facebook.com/binvestigates we are regulated by impress, and adhere to their standards code. you can read our complaints policy on our 'about us' page.

sign up for your daily dose of dope. the morale at jeff bezos’ already embattled washington post continued to plummet this week following a fresh scandal involving the outlet’s new publisher and ceo. june 7 2024, published 8:10 a.m. et the morale at jeff bezos’ already embattled washington post continued to plummet this week following a fresh scandal involving the outlet’s new publisher and ceo will lewis, radaronline.com can report. in a sudden development to come just days after lewis abruptly fired the paper’s executive editor, sally buzbee, on sunday, it was revealed that lewis was ensnared in an alleged and “inappropriate” quid pro quo arrangement with veteran npr media reporter david folkenlik. "it is with regret that i share with you that robert winnett has withdrawn from the position of editor at the washington post," the paper’s embattled ceo and publisher, will lewis, told staffers. according to folkenlik, lewis offered him an “exclusive interview about the post’s future” if the npr writer dropped a story he was writing about lewis’ suspected involvement in the infamous u.k. phone hacking scandal. lewis was working as a senior executive at rupert murdoch’s news corporation when the phone hacking scandal first exploded back in 2005. employees at the now defunct news of the world, which was published by murdoch’s news corporation, were accused of targeting and hacking the phones of u.k. celebrities, politicians, and several members of the british royal family in the 2000s. “in several conversations, lewis repeatedly   and heatedly   offered to give me an exclusive interview about the post’s future, as long as i dropped the story about the [phone hacking] allegations,” folkenlik reported this week regarding several conversations he shared with lewis back in december. lewis was working as a senior executive at rupert murdoch’s news corporation when the uk phone hacking scandal first exploded back in 2005. folkenlik added that a spokesperson “who works directly for lewis from the u.k. and has advised him since his days at the wall street journal” confirmed to folkenlik “that an explicit offer was on the table: drop the story, get the interview.” meanwhile, lewis did not deny the allegations that he offered folkenlik a quid pro quo arrangement to drop the phone hacking story in exchange for an exclusive interview about the bezos owned paper’s future. instead, lewis claimed that his conversations with folkenlik were “off the record.” he also derided the npr reporter and called folkenlik “an activist, not a journalist.” “i had an off the record conversation with him before i joined you at the post and some six months later he has dusted it down, and made up some excuse to make a story of a non story,” lewis told the post this week. lewis, who just became ceo and publisher of the post in january, had appointed winnett to lead the newsroom and replace executive editor sally buzbee following her abrupt departure amidst the restructuring. even more shocking were additional reports that lewis fired the post’s editor in chief, sally buzbee, on sunday after buzbee also refused to drop a story about lewis’s involvement in the u.k. phone hacking scandal. never miss a story   sign up for the radaronline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. daily. breaking. celebrity news. all free. according to several insiders working at the post, buzbee’s sudden departure on sunday and the unfolding scandal regarding lewis has caused morale at the washington, d.c. outlet to plummet. “it's as bad as i've ever seen it, truly,” one staffer told cnn’s oliver darcy on thursday. the washington post published a bombshell report exposing its incoming editor for his alleged involvement in unethical reporting practices. daily updates from the heart of hollywood, right to your inbox by entering your email and clicking sign up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. you are also agreeing to our terms of service and privacy policy. “he’s really losing the newsroom on a large scale,” another staffer said. “people don’t trust him, don’t believe he has the same values and ethics as our journalists, and there are major concerns of how far he would go to censor or shut down coverage.” it should be noted that lewis only joined the washington post as publisher and ceo in january of this year. powered by redcircle email us at tips@radaronline.com connor is located in nyc and has a master's degree in creative writing from monmouth university and extensive experience working in social media for radaronline.com before transitioning to a full time writing role. it's all over all right. on may 14, just one day before news broke that ben affleck and jennifer lopez are allegedly headed toward a divorce, the singer was spotted house hunting on her own in beverly hills, radaronline.com revealed. by aaron johnson clint eastwood has hit his “frankly, i don’t give a damn” moment in life! by radar staff tom cruise is living up to his top gun image by splashing a fortune choppering his new female “best pal” around britain   after he “fell in love” with the way she's overcome her disability. by aaron tinney more from radar online opt out of personalized ads © copyright 2025 radar online™️. a division of mystify entertainment network inc. radar online is a registered trademark. all rights reserved. registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms of service, privacy policy and cookies policy. people may receive compensation for some links to products and services. offers may be subject to change without notice.

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will lewis gave a “green light” to delete emails during a major journalism scandal engulfing rupert murdoch’s news corp. will lewiscredit...carlotta cardana/bloomberg supported by by jo becker and justin scheck reporting from london will lewis, now the publisher of the washington post, was in full crisis mode in 2011. then an executive at a subsidiary of 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 the police, identify wrongdoing and help steer the company through the crisis. his role, he would later say, was as a force for good. he was “draining the swamp.” but confidential documents obtained by the new york times and interviews with people involved in the criminal investigation show that, almost from the beginning, investigators with london’s metropolitan police were suspicious of the company’s intentions, and came to view mr. lewis as an impediment. the police suspected that the company was trying to “steer the investigation into a very narrow remit” by pointing the finger at a few journalists “while steering the investigation away from other journalists and editors,” one of the lead detectives wrote in a previously undisclosed internal summary of events. scotland yard detectives were shocked to learn that the company had deleted millions of internal emails, despite notices from a lawyer for an alleged phone hacking victim and the police explicitly asking that any documents related to the investigation be preserved, according to police records and interviews with investigators.

 david folkenflik will lewis (left) rides with controlling news corp. owner rupert murdoch as they leave the headquarters of his company's british publishing arm in july 2011. murdoch tasked lewis with helping to clean up a massive hacking scandal. peter macdiarmid/getty images hide caption will lewis (left) rides with controlling news corp. owner rupert murdoch as they leave the headquarters of his company's british publishing arm in july 2011. murdoch tasked lewis with helping to clean up a massive hacking scandal. when washington post owner jeff bezos wanted an assured hand to right the newspaper's shaky finances, he turned to will lewis, a 54 year old former editor of the daily telegraph and former publisher of the wall street journal, whom he called "exceptional, tenacious." lewis will start as the post's publisher and ceo in early january. a dozen years ago, media magnate rupert murdoch also turned to lewis when he wanted to find someone to rectify the hacking and bribery scandals engulfing his british sunday tabloid, news of the world. lewis' publicly stated charge was to root out newsroom corruption, cooperate with police and help settle claims from people targeted by the company's journalists for voicemail and email hacking. the guardian called him "news corp's clean up campaigner." a very different picture of lewis emerges from material presented in london courtrooms in recent months and reviewed by npr. the man picked to lead the post   a paper with the slogan "democracy dies in darkness"   stands accused of helping to lead a massive cover up of criminal activity when he was acting outside public view.