Breaking:

We've just reeceived word that Time Magazine has finally started implementing some of those "big changes" they've kept on hinting at.

In an internal memo released just a few minutes ago, John Huey (Time's sixth editor-in-chief) announced the appointment of Priscilla Painton, Adi Ignatius and Michael Elliott as deputy managing editors, and bid farewell to veterans Steve Koepp and Bob Safian..

In his letter, Huey gives a flowery run-down of each of the new editors' individual qualifications, making sure to mention that Painton is a "dogged reporter" and bilingual, (alas, Ignatius "one-ups" her by being a "cool-headed manager," and fluent in both Russian AND Chinese), and describes Elliot as "a man who can see both the big picture and pointilist picture with equal ease." He also offers an extremely generous send-off to Koepp and Safian, thanking them profoundly for their years of service ("no journalist could ask for an editor with a defter pencil…or a sweeter manner") and wishing them good luck in their new ventures.

All of this, of course, could be part of that sensitive, nice-guy image Huey's tried to cultivate ever since a GQ profile cast him in a particularly aggressive light.

A rather one-sided GQ magazine article years ago made him sound like a cross between Attila the Hun and Machiavelli, and he has been dogged by it ever since.

As proof of his gentler side, Huey told me that he often cries when he reads a vintage tear-jerker in Sports Illustrated, which has been known to publish the odd rags-to-riches or riches-to-rags piece.

Wow, Huey weeps while reading Sports Illustrated AND uses phrases like "pointillist picture." All we can say is, what a softie! Can't wait to see what impact John "Waterworks" Huey and his dogged reporting staff have on the shaping future of Time.