As the New York Observer notes, Artley follows in the footsteps of our own Richard Rushfield, who was LATimes.com entertainment editor up through July, and in the wake of the head of the Times' online advertising, Juliana Jaoudi, and the head of online entertainment advertising, Jennifer Van Hook, both let go in the past week.

Formerly editor of IHT.com, Artley was part of a team of outsiders general manager Rob Barrett brought in after he was hired in 2005 to remake the site. Her departure, then, could lead to greater control by the newspaper's print side of the heretofore relatively independent website.

The departures of Stuart and Seymour, the latter a recent chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle, mark the third such high-profile exit at a New York tabloid in the last month, following Jack Mathews retirement from the Daily News. Look for Newsday music writer Rafer Guzman and reliable freelancers like John Anderson and company to pick up film assignments along the way. Meanwhile, it's anyone's guess who's next in line for the velvet ax in the Tribune Company's arts abbatoir, but word on the street points to the Los Angeles Times newsroom. Anyone out there heard anything? You know where to find us.

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