The almost-but-not-quite-jailed Time magger will be the new business mag's Washington editor, according to a press release just issued. It's not just yet another attention-grabbing hire for the mag, but it also answers the what-now-for-Matt question, which has been percolating since his near-imprisonment for refusing to testify in the Plame case. He had been Time's White House correspondent when he was subpoenaed the special prosecutor, but he couldn't really go back to that gig after all that legal brouhaha. A vet of all three newsweeklies, it seemed unlikely he'd go back to one of the other two. And his current gig, editing for Time.com, didn't seem — even in Time Inc.'s current we-love-the-web moment — a natural fit for a high-powered reporter type like him. Conde — and, no especially, a Conde salary — takes care of all that rather nicely, don't it?

Radar chief Maer Roshan has never been known to be the most understanding subject when reporters break pieces of news he doesn't necessarily want broken, or with a spin he doesn't particularly want spun. So he was no doubt less than tickled with WWD media guru Jeff Bercovici back in March, when Jeff uncovered the news that Maer's beleaguered mag was set to be resurrected once again. Savor this irony, then: We're now hearing — just as a rumor, mind you, but from more than one person — that Bercovici is in talks with the Radarites to join the mag, should it ever launch. It's a clever way for Maer to control some of his coverage, eh?

And so it is done: Ad Age's Nat Ives is reporting that Andy Pemberton has resigned — not be fired, notably — as Spin's editor-in-chief. The theory all along had been that he was holding out to get fired, so he could collect some sort of severance — perhaps even the balance of his contract. So what does resignation mean? Does he get nothing? Did they give him some cash to walk away? Theories — whether informed or merely idle speculation — welcomed.

Someone paying a visit yesterday to Interview magazine's temporarily biz-side offices in 440 Ninth Avenue, near Penn Station, made an interesting discovery:

The ever-helpful Jim Romenesko points us to news out of Florida today that the Village Voice has actually — who'd have thunk it? — hired somebody. It's not for the EIC position, alas; it's a new writer. It seems that Sean Gardiner, currently a courts reporter at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, will be coming to our fair city to cover the justice system here. Bob Norman of New Times Broward-Palm Beach, who breaks the news, also gets some comment from Gardiner on why he's making the move. It's mostly because the guy wants a chance to do longer-form journalism but there are other reasons, too:

Eat the Press looks up from the buffet long enough to catch word this afternoon that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has found an editor-in-chief for Blueprint, its new title aimed at younger women: Sarah Humphreys, formerly special projects director at Time Inc.'s Real Simple. The first issue of Blueprint hit in May, the next is scheduled for August, and we're wracking our brains trying to remember if there was an EIC for that first issue who left amid some sort of controversy. Best we can recall — and best Nexis and Google and our Gawker archive seem to suggest — there wasn't; that first issue was simply overseen by MSLO's development editor, Tom Prince, and now needs its own chief. And that seems fair: Sending your chairman off to prison is enough HR controversy to last any publishing company for some time.

Brooke Parkhurst, the blogger behind Belle in the Big Apple, has been dutifully blogging, in serial form, about her experience interviewing for Page Six (much like the tumbleweed, she didn't go for the job). In her second entry, she tells of actually entering the Page Six playpen and, bless her brave little heart, sitting down with Page Six editor Richard Johnson and executive editor Steve Cuozzo. What we learn:

So what gives — as we asked this morning — with Andy Pemberton? Excellent question. Here's what we've been able to pull together, from a variety of sources:

When Time Warner, which had long owned 50 percent of Court TV, acquired the other half last month, everyone was sure that layoffs would be coming soon. Today they finally arrived. Reports a Court TV source:

• Dan Rather says farewell and that he'll see us all soon. [Romenesko]
• Charlie Gibson doesn't care about ratings. Ya-huh. [WP]
• Michael Wolff doesn't like Slate because it's "by and for smart boys trying strenuously to be ever smarter than anyone they perceive as threatening their smartest status." Ironic, eh? [Slate]

First Forbes loses Charles "Don't Fuck With My Headlines" DuBow from its website; now it loses vet Pete Newcomb from the magazine. We're told Newcomb heads up the biz book's most recognizable feature, the annual "Forbes 400" list of the wealthiest people in the United States, so one imagines his departure, for Vanity Fair, comes as a bit of a disappointment. Why would he go? No raises around the family-owned mag for the last few years. Which must be even more frustrating when you spend your days reporting on obscenely rich people.

OK, so our mole was almost right. This morning, both CBS and Dan Rather's agent issued statements that the wacky newsman, a CBS News vet for 44 years and anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, will be leaving the network. Because, hey, after you've given your entire career to one company, you'd expect them to throw you over when you screw up once and the wingnuts demand your scalp.

Oh, there is no joy in Spinsville, which remains as confused as ever. This inquiring email arrived late yesterday:

The Gawker corporate overlords are in need of fresh meat, namely, a summer intern to work a few days a week from our dark hole in Soho starting immediately. On the bright side, you'll be interacting with our incredibly attractive advertising, business, and editorial teams. On the dark side, tasks range from the vaguely crappy to the really quite crappy.

As you may have heard, MSNBC president Rick Kaplan — the famously antagonistic former ABC and CNN executive, and a shockingly tall Jew — announced late yesterday that he's leaving the network after two and a half years, in which time he barely budged the news network's anemic ratings. His departure was widely expected, given MSNBC's performance on his watch, and it once and for all proves that, surprisingly, the way to rescue a cable network is not in fact to pick as one of your lead anchors a male-to-female tranny. Who knew?

This just in from American Media's spokespeople: Star magazine, Bonnie's little tab-turned-glossy that could, is doing a "minor restructuring" of its operations to devote more resources to its L.A. office. Which means fewer resources for the New York office. Which means five staffers — a reporter, a designer, and a few editors — were laid off this afternoon. We don't have names, though. A little help?

A professional mediawatcher thinks he's figured out an explanation for this silly was-Pemberton-fired-or-not dance. The mediawatcher writes:

So Women's Wear reported yesterday morning that Spin EIC Andy Pemberton was about to be fired. Yesterday afternoon several sources informed us that, yup, he had indeed been canned. Minutes later, Fishbowler Dylan Stableford reported that he had a source telling him likewise. Indeed, even the quasi-threatening emails Pemberton sent us last night — far too late last night, when he should have been out drinking (we certainly were) — didn't so much say, "Um, guys, I still work here," as quibble with one of our source's characterization that his sole Spin issue was "a giant shitball." (That's opinion, dude, and therefore not actionable.) But Pembie explains all the confusion in today's Women's Wear.

Now it's done: As WWD predicted this morning, Andy Pemberton has been booted from his brand-new gig as Spin's EIC. This comes on the heels of a near-complete turnover of the mag's staff since new owners purchased it three months ago, sacked Sia Michel to bring in Pemberton, and showed most of the incumbent staff to the door. He'd produced only one issue, but, as a tipster points out, said issue "was indeed a giant shitball." No word on a replacement.

Gawker Media is looking for a programmer to join our tech team. You're a CSS, JavaScript, PHP scripting junkie who understands blogs, RSS, and analytics; you're also able to solve technical problems on your own and on the fly. Things move pretty quickly around here, so you ought to be a fast learner, too. The position is full-time and based in New York City.