Mike Fleming

It’s one of newsosaur journalism’s most coveted gigs, and always influential in terms of Hollywood coverage. mastheadNow the Grey Lady is expected to announce by next week that Gerry Marzorati will exit his post as editor of The New York Times Magazine before the end of the summer. Already, names of his replacement are circulating, most prominently former Timesman James Bennet, who has been editor-in-chief of The Atlantic since 2006.

marzoratiInsiders suspect  Marzorati will be drafted to help spearhead the NYT‘s content pay wall. First word of his impending exit came from the New York Observer today. The move was hardly voluntary, sources tell me. Insiders say morale had sagged at the magazine under Marzorati, that the articles had lost their edge, and that little attempt was made to bring in younger readers. If that seems a harsh assessment, then remember that working for the NYT also means routinely removing all the knives from your back.

I’m told his exit also is a direct result of Marzorati having alienated important staff members. One of them was Stefano Tonchi, who departed his post as “T” editor in March to run W magazine. T brought in millions of dollars in advertising under Tonchi’s stewardship, and I hear his exit took Times overlords by surprise. Following him to W recently was Lynn Hirschberg, T‘s and the NYT‘s magazine’s controversial editor-at-large who directed and wrote most of the magazine’s Hollywood coverage. Hirschberg had been brought in by Marzorati’s predecessor Adam Moss.