Hollywood Reporter Names Top Editor

The Hollywood Reporter named veteran staffer Howard Burns its new editor Monday, succeeding Anita Busch, who quit in protest April 30 in a controversy surrounding the paper’s longtime party columnist.

Burns, 42, has been with the Hollywood Reporter for 13 years in a number of positions and has served as acting editor since Busch’s resignation.

He said he wants to “freshen the paper and make it more diligent in reporting the business of making movies, television and music.”

“We want to distance ourselves from the competition,” Burns said, referring to the Reporter’s larger rival, Daily Variety. The Reporter’s circulation is 24,608 except for its Tuesday international edition, which has a circulation of 32,799. Daily Variety’s circulation is 34,420.

VNU, the Reporter’s Netherlands-based parent company, has been investigating charges of unethical behavior by columnist George Christy, who was suspended May 25 and whose departure from the paper has been widely expected.

The Screen Actors Guild-Producers Pension & Health Plan has been conducting an “audit inspection” of the 74-year-old Christy to see whether he actually acted in several films for which he was paid, making him eligible for benefits from the SAG fund. He also has been accused of accepting rent-free office space from the producers of those movies.

Burns said there was “no discussion whatsoever” of Christy during his conversations about the editor’s job.

Busch was credited with significantly improving the Reporter, both journalistically and in its competitive position with Daily Variety, during her two years as editor. She came to the job as an experienced, aggressive reporter.

Unlike Busch or Variety editor Peter Bart, who was a studio head before joining the publication, Burns is not widely known in Hollywood. He’s been more of an “inside man” at the paper, having served as managing editor, news editor and executive editor for television coverage.

When his appointment was announced in the newsroom shortly before noon Monday, the staff burst into applause.

“We like him and we respect him,” said Cynthia Littleton, the paper’s television editor. “He was the galvanizing force last week behind our coverage of how the terrorist attacks impacted the entertainment and media worlds, and many people in the newsroom were pulling for him to get the job. He knows the processes and the people, and he keeps the trains running on time. That’s not something an outsider could easily do.”

Robert J. Dowling, publisher and editor in chief of the paper, said he had interviewed a dozen candidates and decided after watching Burns in action last week that “it was obvious he was the right guy at the right time.”

“He took over at a difficult time, had a hand in hiring most of the people who are there and . . . possesses the strong leadership skills, news savvy and relationships within the industry that are needed to help ensure the paper’s continuing success.”