Embattled UK journalist will not join Washington Post as editor, staff memo says

British journalist Robert Winnett will not be joining the Washington Post as its editor, an internal memo seen by Reuters showed, following media reports that he used unethical methods to obtain information while working with the Sunday Times.

Post publisher Will Lewis had named Winnett, a former colleague who serves as deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph, to the role earlier this month after the exit of Sally Buzbee, the first woman to lead the storied newsroom. The reversal means Winnett will remain at the Daily Telegraph, which he joined in 2007.

"It is with regret that I share with you that Robert Winnett has withdrawn from the position of Editor at The Washington Post," Lewis said in the memo on Friday.

The New York Times reported last Saturday that Lewis and Winnett used fraudulently obtained records in articles at London's Sunday Times newspaper. On Sunday, the Post published a report detailing Winnett's ties to John Ford, who has admitted to using illegal methods to gain information for stories.

Lewis did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Winnett declined to comment.

'Their loss is our gain'

Daily Telegraph editor Chris Evans said in an internal memo, "I'm pleased to report that Rob Winnett has decided to stay with us. As you all know, he's a talented chap and their loss is our gain."

The Post's memo showed that it has started a search for a new editor and that Matt Murray, former editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, will lead the newsroom and continue in his role as executive editor until after the U.S. elections.

The newspaper, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is one of many news outlets struggling to maintain a sustainable business model in the decades since the internet upended the economics of journalism and digital advertising rates plummeted.

Executives at the Post last year offered voluntary buyouts across the company to reduce employee headcount by about 10% and shrink the size of the newsroom to about 940 journalists.

A report in the Post last month said the newspaper was planning to create new subscription tiers called Post Pro and Post Plus to draw more money from its readers after losing $77 million over the past year.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru and Susan Heavey; Editing by David Ljunggren and Anil D'Silva)