Paul Farhi

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/GettyWill Lewis, the dashing British journalist and publishing executive, rode into the Washington Post’s newsroom in January like a white knight. As the Post’s new publisher, Sir Will—yes, he has a knighthood—quickly charmed the storied paper’s staff with self-deprecating wit and a firm grasp of the organization’s challenges. A new era seemed to be afoot. Last month, Lewis began the first phases of an ambitious restructuring of the Post‘s business and editorial operations.In little more than a week, the goodwill has dissipated.First, there was the stunning news that Lewis had pushed out the Post’s editor, Sally Buzbee, smack in the middle of a presidential campaign. Her replacement: two of Lewis’ former colleagues, neither of whom had ever worked at the Post. Then came stories from The New York Times, NPR, and the Post itself that suggested Lewis had tried to manipulate news reporting about his role in cleaning up the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids more than a dozen years ago (the scandal is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit; Prince Harry, and other plaintiffs, allege Lewis helped conceal evidence. Lewis has denied wrongdoing).Read more at The Daily Beast.