From NY Post:
Steven Erlanger is out as cultural czar at the New York Times, and is being reassigned as Jerusalem bureau chief.
Jonathan Landman, one of the few heroes in the Jayson Blair scandal, was made cultural news editor in his place.
Most see the change as a sign that Times brass was not happy with the way Erlanger handled movie critic Elvis Mitchell. Mitchell had been sharing the lead movie critic job at the Times with A.O. Scott when Scott was suddenly elevated to the job of chief movie critic.
“There is a feeling that the Elvis Mitchell thing was mishandled and that the Arts and Leisure section is in total disarray,” said one industry source.
The section has also been hard hit by a series of successful raids on staffers by ex-cultural czar Adam Moss, who was tapped to be the new editor in chief of New York magazine on March 1.
Mitchell quit the Times early this month. His departure was said to be particularly irksome to the Times brass because he was one of the highest-profile African-American journalists at the paper.
Times Executive Editor Bill Keller put out a memo saying Mitchell’s departure was amicable – but few believed it.
Landman, the former Metropolitan editor who had urged that Jayson Blair be stopped from ever writing for the paper, was appointed assistant managing editor for enterprise last year.
