The Life & Style melee is only just beginning, according to multiple insiders. Following Tuesday's dismissal of EIC Debra Birnbaum, current and former staffers, as well as other Bauer insiders, have been flooding our inbox with reports, which range from "morale is non-existant" to "there's at least a half dozen resumes from different people sitting in the printer tray." Some folks have had the audacity to claim Debra Birnbaum's replacement, Mark Pasetsky, has "not a drop" of "journalism experience," "ZERO edit or fashion experience" and that he "started at Bauer as marketing flunky."

Says one insider: "He has no vision, changes storries in middle of them being shipped, and cuts out outher mags and asks staff to copy it."

Clearly not the vote of confidence you'd hope for during such a top-level regime change — and it's unlikely Pasetsky is going to put up with it. "Expect a mass exodus," one senior level insider instructs us.

A parade of sudden vacancies wouldn't come as a surprise, and not just because of the new leadership, but because "[Bauer CEO Hubert Boehle] doesn't want to pay holiday bonuses." Another tattler tells us Pasetsky's role will be more "lapdog" than editor-in-chief, since Boehle's latest gimmick is to micromanage the magazine.

Which, as you know, works so well with Jann Wenner and Us Weekly.