Hollywood Reporter’s Editor Quits After Story on Columnist Is Killed

The editor of the Hollywood Reporter entertainment trade newspaper resigned Monday, a week after her boss killed a story critical of the paper’s veteran show business columnist, colleagues said.

A spokeswoman for the newspaper confirmed the resignation of Editor Anita Busch.

Busch declined to comment.

Colleagues said Busch, who had been editor since 1999, quit after Publisher Robert Dowling refused to print a story by labor and legal reporter David Robb about the newspaper’s longtime gossip columnist, George Christy.

Inside.com, a media news Web site, said Robb’s story reported that Christy was being investigated by the Screen Actors Guild to see whether he qualified for benefits from its health and pension plans.

Christy reportedly claimed to have appeared in several films and said that qualified him for guild coverage.

Industry sources said Busch had long sought to remove Christy but that Dowling resisted because reader surveys showed he was the paper’s most popular writer.