In New York magazine's media gossip edition (first Robert De Niro buying the Observer and now this?) Tina Brown is latest to go through the rumor mill of possible replacements for Jim Kelly over at Time magazine.

In addition to considering Newsweek’s Jon Meacham, Slate’s Jacob Weisberg, And Michael Kinsley, Huey’s been doing due diligence on Brown, floating the idea in conversations—though insiders insist he’s not serious about her.

Dawn Bridges, spokeswoman for Time Inc., downplayed the replacement talk as “speculation,” though she noted that part of Huey’s job was to talk to people like Brown (though Brown says she hasn’t talked to him).

So, even the insiders think Jon Huey isn't actually going to hire Brown, and Brown doesn't remember having a conversation with Huey. Wow, that's some really great gossip. Especially since Lloyd Grove adds in that New York EIC Adam Moss might be considered, but says "no way" he would ever go there.

So basically we're at the same place we were last week, except now we have more arbitrary guesses and the knowledge that Kelly gets his staffers drunk off Graydon Carter approved champagne.

Could It Really Be ‘Time’ for Tina [Geoffrey Gray, New York]
Time Might Be Right For Tina [Lloyd Grove, Daily News]