The news industry is in upheaval. A presidential election is looming. Faced with financial difficulties and political division, some of America's largest news organizations are handing over the reins to editors with limited budgets and a penchant for in-depth reporting.
And they are all British.
Will Lewis, a veteran reporter for London's Daily Telegraph and News UK, is now chief executive of The Washington Post, but reporters have questioned his ethics on Fleet Street. He recently sacked the paper's American editor and replaced him with a former Telegraph colleague, surprising American reporters who had never heard of him.
Emma Tucker (formerly of The Sunday Times) took over at The Wall Street Journal last year, shortly after Mark Thompson (formerly of the BBC) became chairman of CNN, where he ordered a US remake of the long-running BBC comedy quiz show Have I Got News for You.
They joined a host of Brits already entrenched in the American media landscape: Michael Bloomberg, a noted Anglophile, hired John Micklewaite (a former London-based editor of The Economist) to run Bloomberg News in 2015. Rupert Murdoch appointed Keith Poole (The Sun and Daily Mail) as editor-in-chief of the New York Post in 2021, the same year that the Associated Press appointed Daisy Veerasingham, a British woman, as its chief executive.
“We're the ultimate trophy for American billionaires,” jokes Joanna Coles, the British-born editor who in April took over at The Daily Beast, an online news outlet named after a newspaper in an Evelyn Waugh novel. Coles hasn't been shy about hiring more of her compatriots, including appointing a Scotsman as editor-in-chief and a Guardian reporter as Washington bureau chief.
“We're recruiting a lot of British people,” she said in an interview.
There are many theories about why British editors have enduring appeal to American executives — there's something worldly about a British accent — but tough, gritty journalism is a cherished tradition in Britain, where broadsheets and tabloids have competed for decades, often with budgets far smaller than their American rivals.
British journalists tend to be lower paid than their American counterparts, a position that benefits many news organisations already facing cuts. Fleet Street has a reputation for murky ethics that goes hand in hand with a willingness to burn down sanctuaries to please readers.
“I think the British press is less self-conscious, and what I would call the elite American press is much more sentimental about its place in the world,” Tina Brown, a former editor at Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The Daily Beast, said in an interview.
She added that the decline of the American news industry also means owners have fewer homegrown leaders to choose from.
“If you're looking for new people to run The Washington Post, what is the right fit for you as an organization right now? What's left? With so many newspapers gone, the pool of people trained to fill that specific role is much smaller.”
Brown was hired by Condé Nast in 1984 to be editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair, leading a transatlantic convoy, and her quintessentially British qualities — her sass, her sharp writing and her obsession with class — helped propel the struggling magazine to success. Condé Nast soon brought on Anna Wintour, whose father was a longtime editor at London's Evening Standard.
“Americans think we're cheaper and more competitive,” Wintour, who has been editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988 and also serves as Condé Nast's chief content officer, said in an email. “News is part of British culture and it's in our blood, like football, humour and Shakespeare.”
“British journalists tend to be tough. News is a rough business in Britain and has been for centuries. So when American media companies feel they need to fight to maintain a presence or make a profit, it's perhaps natural that they would look across the Atlantic.”
Coles agreed with that assessment. “British people tend to do well in situations with fewer resources,” she said. “The industry is in crisis, but Brits are unfazed by the crisis.”
Coles added that the current malaise in US politics and concerns about America's declining global power are familiar to Brits.
“The end of the empire is a scenario that is very familiar to us, so we don't have to fear it,” she said.
British editors also have a proven track record.
Messrs. Wintour and Brown were so successful that, at one point, British journalists ran Details, National Review, The New Republic, Self, Condé Nast Traveler and Harper's Bazaar. CNN's Thompson, who became a U.S. citizen this year, is credited with reviving the fortunes of the New York Times during his eight-year tenure as chief executive.
There were missteps. In 1992, Mr. Brown poached Alexander Chancellor, an Old Etonian and former Spectator editor, to the New Yorker to run its “Talk of the Town” column, known for its sophisticated view of Manhattan life. Shortly after arriving at the New Yorker, Mr. Chancellor, who died in 2017, told a colleague that he had stumbled upon a remarkable story: a giant Christmas tree outside Rockefeller Center.
The article was quietly rejected, and Chancellor lost his job a few months later.
The recent surge in British imports may be explained by new shortages in the U.S. news industry. Messrs. Tucker and Thompson have overseen job cuts and budget cuts. Lewis has warned staff that The Post lost $77 million last year and its readership has halved since 2020.
But while British journalists are used to fierce competition, their journalistic rulebook doesn't always follow American standards. At The Washington Post, where Messrs. Woodward and Bernstein are based, some of Mr. Lewis's behavior has unsettled the editorial staff.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Mr. Lewis had asked former Post editor-in-chief Sally Busby not to cover a court ruling in Britain about Mr. Lewis' involvement in Rupert Murdoch's wiretapping scandal. (A spokesman for Mr. Lewis said the account of the conversation was inaccurate.) An NPR reporter later said he offered Mr. Lewis an exclusive interview if he agreed to drop coverage of the scandal. (The spokesman said Mr. Lewis had spoken with NPR before joining the Post, and that after he joined the company, the interview request was made “through normal internal communications channels.”)
Such practices might be tolerated in some London newspapers, where managers are more comfortable tinkering with stories, but in American editorial offices they are forbidden, as is the practice of paying for information. At the Telegraph, Mr Lewis reportedly spent £110,000 on a damaging exposé of parliamentary corruption. (Rivals The Sun and The Times balked at a similar deal.) Robert Winnett, the Telegraph reporter who obtained the documents, is due to become editor of the Post later this year.
What about the view across the pond?
“We're all approaching this with a mixture of amusement and indignation,” said a Fleet Street editor, who asked not to be named to avoid incurring the wrath of sensitive bosses (a request that, in keeping with the spirit of British tabloids, was granted).
“I find it amusing that the high priests of American journalism are being snubbed by good old tough-guy British editors, and it pisses me off that they think it's an anomaly and that they might learn something from across the pond,” the editor said. “Yes, our standards are a little low, but we are also very competitive, driven and rigorous, and maybe that's helpful given the current state of the industry.”
Benjamin Marin and Katie Robertson Contributed report.