Uh oh. John Rockwell is retiring as editor of the Sunday Arts and Leisure section of the New York Times, as reported in the New York Observer.

The root cause of the upheaval, Mr. Rockwell said, is that Howell Raines wants to change The Times’s cultural coverage.”I found out Howell Raines wanted to take this section in a new direction, which, I might add, is perfectly within his rights as executive editor,” he said. “Howell wants to take it more in a populist direction, more popular culture.”

 So anyone with an interest in the high arts will find even less coverage, while the pages will be filled with more Whitney and Britney. Next, the Book Review analyzes the complete works of Jackie Collins…