Top Exec Resigns After 17 Years
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| Robert J. Dowling |
Los Angeles, CA – Robert J. Dowling, editor in chief and publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, announced yesterday that on December 31 he will leave the daily entertainment trade publication after 17 years. Dowling, who will become a consultant, has signed a three-year agreement with the Reporter’s parent company, Dutch media corporation VNU.
Some entertainment industry analysts have linked the 66-year-old Dowling’s departure with recent turmoil within VNU, which also owns Nielsen Media Research and Billboard magazine. Dowling said his departure has been in the works for the past month. “Nobody was the catalyst,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “It just kind of got to that spot.”
During Dowling’s tenure, the Reporter, which celebrated its 75th anniversary this year, experienced significant growth and elevated in stature to become a legitimate rival to Variety, which recently commemorated its centennial.
Dowling, who had no entertainment industry experience before moving to Los Angeles from Connecticut to run the Reporter, replaced Tichi Wilkerson, widow of the trade’s founder, William R. Wilkerson, after she sold the company. When Dowling moves on, Tony Uphoff, the Reporter’s general manager, is considered the most likely candidate to take over as publisher.