Search for New Hollywood Reporter Editor Narrows.

The Hollywood Reporter, which for months has been casting a wide net in search of a new editor, is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks.

Dozens of editors and reporters in Los Angeles and beyond have been getting calls and e-mails from Korn/Ferry International, the executive search firm hired by the Reporter to fill the post vacated by Anita Busch in late April.

She resigned after Publisher and Editor-In-Chief Robert Dowling refused to publish a piece about a Screen Actors Guild investigation of veteran Reporter columnist George Christy.

Among the names frequently mentioned around Hollywood as candidates for the post are Corie Brown, editor of the Los Angeles Times' "Company Town" section; Glenn Bunting, the Times' deputy business editor for technology and entertainment; Michael Cieply, former West Coast editor of Inside.com; Jonathan Taylor, former general manager and executive editor of Variety.com and Anne Thompson, West Coast editor of Premiere magazine.

"(The post) is a pretty big deal now that things at Variety are a bit up in the air," said one potential candidate who asked not to be named. "I keep hearing names being thrown around."

Variety editor Peter Bart was suspended earlier this month over allegations of ethical misconduct and derogatory comments about blacks, Jews and gays in an article published in Los Angeles magazine.

Although the Reporter search has not been advertised, it's generated considerable interest and drawn several dozen unsolicited inquiries, said William Simon, managing director of the global entertainment and media practice for Korn/Ferry.

"We're talking to a lot of editors and