Weeks before the embattled executive editor of The Washington Post abruptly resigned on June 2, her relationship with the company’s CEO became increasingly tense, reports The Business Times.

In mid-May, continues the report, “the two clashed over whether to publish an article about a British hacking scandal with some ties to the Post’s CEO, Will Lewis, according to two sources with knowledge of their interactions.”

“Sally Buzbee, the editor, informed Lewis that the newsroom planned to cover a judge’s scheduled ruling in a long-running British legal case brought by Prince Harry and others against some of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids, the sources said.

As part of the ruling, the judge was expected to say whether the plaintiffs could add Lewis’ name to a list of executives who they argued were involved in a plan to conceal evidence of hacking at the newspapers. Lewis told Buzbee the case involving him did not merit coverage, the sources said.

“When Buzbee said the Post would publish an article anyway, he said her decision represented a lapse in judgment and abruptly ended the conversation.”

Lewis, states the report, “did not prevent the article from publishing. But the incident continued to weigh on Buzbee just as she was considering her future at the paper, according to the two sources with knowledge of her decision-making process. Her eventual decision to resign has shaken one of the country’s top news organisations.

“The interaction over the court ruling was not the primary reason for her resignation. Buzbee had already been mulling her future at the Post because of a plan by Lewis to reorganise the newsroom that he laid out to her in April, the sources said.

More here.