A new job for Michael Kinsley?

Michael Kinsley, who left his position with the online magazine Slate and later became editorial and opinion page editor of the Los Angeles Times, is changing jobs again.

He appears to be out as editor of the Times' editorial and opinion page. If he stays with the paper — and he may not — his job there remains uncertain, he said yesterday.

"It's all totally unclear," said Kinsley, who lives in Seattle. "There's going to be some kind of change and we'll decide in September. I'm not denying it and I'm not guaranteeing it."

Recently the Los Angeles Times decided that Kinsley will report to Publisher Jeff Johnson. Kinsley said he will be on vacation for most of August, so he'll meet with the Times publisher in September to map out his new role at the paper.

Kinsley, 54, was hired last year as Los Angeles Times editorial- and opinion-page editor. Earlier in his career, he had been an editor at The New Republic and Harper's Magazine and was the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire."

In 1995 he founded the online magazine Slate.com, financed by Microsoft. He made a highly publicized move from the East Coast to Seattle and has lived here since, although he spends much of his time in Los Angeles.

Kinsley, who has Parkinson's disease, stepped down from his post at Slate in 2002 but continued to write a column for the magazine. In April 2004 he was named to his job at the Times.

If he stays at the Los Angeles Times, Kinsley said, one possibility is that he might do more work with the newspaper's Web site. He said he was not asked to step down but instigated talks himself on taking a new role at the paper.

"I've told [the publisher] that there's things I like and things I don't like," Kinsley said, "and he will come up with a proposal."

Kinsley said what he dislikes most about the job is the commute from his home in Seattle, where he lives with wife Patty Stonesifer, who heads the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

He said he spends every other week in Los Angeles.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com