“Losing 100 voters who are basically unbiased threatens to increase the influence of the biased producers,” said Jeffrey Seller, the Broadway producer (and a Tony voter) who won Tonys for best musical for “In the Heights,” “Avenue Q,” and “Rent.” “The fact is, the press is potentially an unencumbered pool of voters, and I’m not sure we really want to leave the Tonys in the hands of encumbered producers.”  At the same time, Mr. Seller said, the fact that journalists doubled as Tony voters did seem to diminish their independent status.  “I have to say the press’s job is to cover the theater, not participate in it,” he said. “As soon as they’re a voter, they’re a participant.”  An official close to the committee, who was not authorized to discuss its private deliberations and therefore spoke on condition of anonymity, said it had chosen to adopt an approach followed by The New York Times, which, in its ethics policy for journalists prohibits its critics and writers from voting in awards competitions like the Tonys because doing so might call the paper’s independence into question.  The effect of the change on the Tonys, formally known as the Antoinette Perry Awards, is difficult to predict. Some producers said that the 2007 winner for best musical, “Spring Awakening,” probably drew a significant number of votes from critics, who were broadly enthusiastic about the rock score and story of tortured young love. “Spring Awakening” beat three competitors — “Curtains,” “Grey Gardens” and “Mary Poppins” — that had more familiar scores and plots and may have been favored by at least some Tony traditionalists.  And when “Rent” was in the running in 1996, journalists heralded the show far more than “older Tony voters,” said Richard Kornberg, a Broadway press agent who worked on the musical.  “If this change was in effect that year, ‘Rent’ might not have been awarded best musical,” he said. “I just don’t understand why they have changed the rules. It makes the Tony more like a marketing tool and less like an award for excellence.”  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C3 of the New York edition with the headline: Tony Awards Committee Trims List of Voters, Citing Conflicts. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
In a decision that surprised many in the theater world, the Tony Management Committee concluded that members of the so-called first-night press list were no longer eligible to be Tony voters.