Brits are taking over American news

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery/New Line Cinema

Cricket isn’t the British export sweeping the US—many of America’s top newsrooms are now led by people who drive on the wrong side of the road. The British newsroom invasion could add a different flavour to your news at an inflection point for the business, with the US presidential election heating up but many outlets suffering financially.

The list of British news executives in the US is long: The Washington Post is now led by Daily Telegraph vet Will Lewis, Emma Tucker is the WSJ’s editor-in-chief, Mark Thompson is the CEO of CNN, John Micklethwait (definitely British) is the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, and Daisy Veerasingham leads the AP.

Why is this happening? Their accents make them sound smart. Perhaps more importantly, struggling American news orgs may see British editors, known for an aggressive style of reporting with less financial support, as potential disruptors.

Not all that disruption has been welcomed. The Washington Post is in chaos after CEO Will Lewis overhauled the newsroom last week and reports emerged that he tried to kill negative stories about him in the press.

Lewis thinks change is necessary after the Post lost $77 million last year and its traffic plunged by half since 2020. During a contentious meeting on Monday, he told one staffer, “People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”