Newly named Washington Post editor decides not to take job after backlash, will stay in Britain

NEW YORK — The Washington Post’s new editor Robert Winnett never made it to his job, withdrawing Friday and deciding to stay in England in another upheaval at a news outlet where a reorganization plan has gone disastrously wrong. The Post’s CEO and publisher, Will Lewis, announced Winnett’s decision in a note to staff, and said a recruitment firm would be immediately hired to search for a replacement. The financially struggling Post had announced Winnett would take over as editor of the core newsroom functions after November’s presidential election, while it was also setting up a “third newsroom” devoted to finding new ways for its journalism to make money. Besides Winnett’s hiring, former Wall Street Journal editor Matt Murray was brought on as her interim replacement and future leader of the “third newsroom.” Since then, several published reports had raised questions about the journalistic ethics of Lewis and Winnett stemming from their work in England.