As you may know if you read half a dozen media news and gossip sites, Howell Raines profiled the Poynter Institute's Jim Romenesko in this month's Portfolio. Mr. Raines calls Mr. Romenesko's media news site, "a high-tech tom-tom for angst-ridden members of a dying tribe" and calls the man himself "both the medium and the message." (Mr. Romenesko linked to the story himself, pulling one of the least flattering statements, "From guru to geezer in cyberspace," as befits what all media writers are contractually-bound to refer to as his modest Midwestern demeanor.)  read more »

The Media Mob has learned that longtime New York Times editor Mike Oreskes is leaving the company for the Associated Press.

Mr. Oreskes, who is currently the editor of the Times-owned International Herald Tribune, has been working in one capacity or another under the Times umbrella for the past 27 years. Before he took his position as executive editor of IHT in 2005, he was the deputy managing editor of The Times for Bill Keller, and an assistant managing editor under Howell Raines before that.

At the AP, he'll become the managing editor of the wire service's U.S. News department, a newly created department there.

Update! AP has confirmed our report with a press release. Follow the jump to read it ...  read more »

Last month, Mark Leibovich wrote an extensive and somewhat unflattering profile of MSNBC anchor and political guru Chris Matthews for the cover of the New York Times Magazine.

How did Mr. Matthews feel about the piece?

According to freshly unearthed and highly anecdotal evidence: not so well!  read more »

The New York Times under executive editor Bill Keller still has fewer Pulitzer victories to its credit than during the short-lived reign of his predecessor, Howell Raines.

Under Raines, who served approximately 21 months before resigning in 2003 in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, the paper's news pages published seven Pulitzer-winning entries.

In more than twice that span of time—53 Pulitzer-eligible months as executive editor—Keller has published six Pulitzer winners.  read more »

Howell Raines is back.

The former executive editor of the New York Times has written his first media column for Portfolio, and it's about—surprise!—the New York Times. It will appear in the April issue that hits newstands later this week. (Online this morning.)

The article, titled "Murdoch v. the Times," examines the paper's vulnerability, particularly in the wake of Rupert Murdoch's purchase of the Wall Street Journal.

"There is no more important question in American journalism than the future of the Times, and I don't think the newspaper or the journalistic profession is taking Murdoch in particular or the takeover issue in general seriously enough," he writes.  read more »

Howell Raines.

Mr. Raines recently sold his West 11th Street townhouse for $3.5 million, according to city deed-transfer records.

Last May, actress Christina Applegate reportedly rented the 18-foot-wide townhouse while performing on Broadway.

Newly appointed Atlantic editor James Bennet does not yet have a working phone line. Reached by phone, Miller declined to comment on her Atlantic assignment. "I just got back from the Middle East," she said. "I can’t talk right now."