In December, the magazine's deputy editor, Alex Star—a brainy sort who previously created the Boston Globe's Ideas section and edited Lingua Franca—left for the Times book review section.

And now Virginia Heffernan is departing as well. "The Medium," her column about Internet-age culture—everything from viral videos to Angry Birds—won't run in Mr. Lindgren's magazine, the writer told The Observer. "The Medium" started as the "Screens" blog on nytimes.com in 2006; it moved onto glossy pages in June 2009.

Ms. Heffernan said that various options for her next move at the Times are being discussed, but that nothing has been decided yet. Before the Times, Ms. Heffernan was the TV critic for Slate, and she also co-wrote the novel "The Underminer" with Mike Albo.

Mr. Lindgren did not respond to an email from The Observer.

After landing the Times Magazine job in August, Mr. Lindgren has hauled in some impressive talent. Early on, he tapped as his deputy Lauren Kern from the executive editor position at O, the Oprah Magazine, and then Greg Veis from The New Republic for front-of-the-book duties. New York's Adam Sternbergh and Sam Anderson came aboard in mid-December. GQ's well-liked Joel Lovell signed on as a deputy editor last month, too. The redesigned magazine will debut later this year.

nsummers@observer.com | @nicksumm