Posted 2:26 PM by Floyd

You Don't Say

I followed a link from Drudge to this penetrating article in the Hollywood Reporter:

WGA's Riskin resigns presidency following report

By Peter Kiefer and Jesse Hiestand

On the heels of a report that found her ineligible to hold office, WGA west president Victoria Riskin resigned as president of guild on Tuesday morning. Riskin has been replaced by WGA west vp Charles Holland effective immediately.

...

Why was Riskin found ineligible? The article doesn't say!

Note that two people worked on this five-paragraph press release / whitewash. Also note that there is a box under the article which says "Want to use this article? Click here for options!" Use the article for what? A supply of capital V's and W's?

If you actually care about what the deal was with Riskin, go to flyover country. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune explains the flap in the first three paragraphs of its article on the story:

The head of the union representing Hollywood screenwriters resigned Tuesday after an investigator determined she was ineligible to hold office because her guild membership had lapsed.

Victoria Riskin, president of the Writers Guild of America's Western branch, stepped down and was replaced by union vice president Charles Holland, who will serve the remainder of Riskin's two-year term, which runs through 2005.

Stanford law professor William B. Gould IV, hired by the guild to review the matter, had reported to the union's board Monday that Riskin did not do enough paid writing work to maintain her membership when she was elected to a second term last September.