Variety's Editor-In-Chief Peter Bart Replaced By Younger Model
Was Variety chief Peter Bart ousted? Well, he was moved to a "better" position above as Vice President and Editorial director. But even Variety's Anne Thompson writes, "When times get tough, the tough move upstairs, is another way to look at it." His successor is Tim Gray, formerly the editor the trade mag. The changes were effective immediately after the report yesterday afternoon.

Like the entire film industry and movie press, Variety has been hit with major cutbacks and layoffs in the last two years and many saw the veteran's reticence to engage the online world and blogs as part of the problem, but the way the industry is going these days, he likely would have been having a tough time all around. Journalism is changing and for the worse frankly, and we honestly do feel bad for Bart [ed. Or at least I do. Call me crazy, but I always really respected my grandfather who was a really great, great man and generally I find older people a treasure trove of knowledge and experience. It's never fun seeing someone put to pasture].

Nikki Finke says she could have reported this as an exclusive, cause she knew the information before it was reported on Variety.com, but that she got waylaid by Gray who said he would call her back.  Meanwhile the story was posted on Variety. Aww, poor Nikki. She says insiders say the Bart move is "up and out," and his new position is a meaningless one, but you don't need to be a Hollywood analyst to be able to see that a mile away. Here are David Poland's thoughts on the matter and Sharon Waxman's at The Wrap.

Meanwhile, some will be cheering that the wicked witch is dead or something like that, but we say don't dance on people's demotion/ousting grave as it's bad, bad job karma. [Variety]