The chattering classes are buzzing about editor Tina Brown's sudden exit from the New Yorker

By JULIE K.L. DAM

f all the buzz created by the glossy magazines Tina Brown has edited, perhaps the most important has been that surrounding herself. The 44-year-old British-born Oxford graduate made her name by rejuvenating the London-based society monthly Tatler and then Vanity Fair before setting out to punch up the illustrious, but stodgy, New Yorker in 1992. With her husband, former editor of London's Sunday Times and publishing executive Harold Evans, she was one half of New York's preeminent literary power couple. So when last week she suddenly announced her resignation from the New Yorker to run a film, television and publishing venture with Miramax Films, it was her future, not the magazine's, that held the media world's attention.

Brown's tenure at the New Yorker had been a favorite topic of the chattering classes practically from the day she arrived. Her success at Vanity Fair had been predicated on flash, controversy and a love of Hollywood, epitomized by the much-talked-about cover photograph of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore. This editorial philosophy was anathema to many at the New Yorker, which had established itself since 1925 as the source of serious literature and highbrow discourse. Several longtime contributors to the magazine, including humorist Garrison Keillor and novelist Jamaica Kincaid, promptly left. Though under Brown the New Yorker became a timely must-read among the movers and shakers, won numerous awards and increased its circulation by almost 30%, to 809,000, articles on subjects such as the porn industry and a proposed guest-editorship by comedian Roseanne were widely criticized. "She knew, coming in, that she had to change things," says New Yorker media writer Ken Auletta. "Did she make mistakes and sometimes go overboard? You bet...[But] she got people to read the New Yorker."

More recently, tension within Conde Nast, which owns the New Yorker, had mediamongers guessing that Brown's days were numbered. Her boss, S.I. Newhouse--chairman of Advance Publications, Conde Nast's parent company--was said to be tired of the New Yorker's failure to make a profit: it was $11 million in the red last year, and had lost a total of $100 million in the 13 years of his ownership. Conde Nast president Steven Florio lobbied to rein in Brown's magnanimity with her editorial budget: she has paid as much as $25,000 for a story. Brown was reportedly unhappy with Newhouse's decision to move the traditionally independent New Yorker closer to the rest of the group's publications, which include glossy monthlies like Vogue and GQ, by consolidating business operations as well as by moving the staff from its old offices into a new shared Conde Nast building. At the end of May, the magazine's president, Tom Florio, was replaced without her prior knowledge. In addition, observers saw Harold Evans' departure at the end of last year from Random House, also owned by Newhouse, as a portent.

Brown has dismissed any talk of a bitter parting and said that she had simply received an offer she couldn't refuse. Newhouse had offered her a five-year extension to her contract, which expired July 1, but she told her staff in a tearful meeting that her mother's death the week before had given her clarity. "I just couldn't face the prospect of marrying for five more years after being here for six years," she said. "[Miramax co-chairman] Harvey Weinstein had come to me with this fabulous offer, in which I was given an equity position."

The venture is intended to exploit the existing synergy between the publishing and filmmaking worlds: these days, books are optioned for movies before they are even published--or written--and producers are increasingly scouring magazines for ideas. Top Gun and Saturday Night Fever originated from magazine articles, and several New Yorker stories have recently been optioned. Brown's first project is to launch a magazine full of articles that Miramax can spin into TV shows or movies. "Tina Brown has a great editorial eye," says Michael Eisner, chairman of the Walt Disney Co., which owns Miramax. "We have respect for her creative ability, and this new strategy will allow Tina to have an edge in the creation of intellectual product." Says Jeffrey Berg, head of the International Creative Management agency: "Tina has made a significant contribution to the quality of American writing and has superb relationships with a broad range of writers, fiction and non-fiction alike."

The talk of the town, meanwhile, has moved on to speculation, and worry, about who will become only the fifth editor the New Yorker has had in its 73 years. But some in both Hollywood and New York say that Tina Brown without the New Yorker faces much more uncertainty than does the New Yorker without Tina Brown. "She'll soon find she doesn't have the same power base behind her," says one top motion picture marketing executive. "She's just another buyer and seller now." Institutions may be longlasting, but buzz, after all, is fleeting.

--Reported by Jeffrey Ressner /Los Angeles and Andrea Sachs /New York