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June 25, 2007
Fell Forced Out of Long-Time Lincoln Gig
Paul Fell's long-term relationship with the Lincoln Journal-Star came to an abrupt end last week in a dispute over a political donation.
Fell, who has been providing three cartoons a week to the newspaper as a freelancer since 1992, was let go after his name showed up on a list of journalists who gave to political campaigns, as compiled by MSNBC.
The newsroom ethics code at the Journal-Star forbids political contributions
by staffers who are involved in political coverage. A staff reporter at the
paper who also made a political donation was allowed to keep her job after
admitting she violated the ethics code and apologized. Fell, however, was let
go.
As columnist Kathleen Rutledge noted in a June 23 column: "Fell's case
differs from [reporter Sylvia] Hermanson's. We pay him to express his own opinion
on matters of public interest through cartoons that appear on the editorial
pages. He is not an employee but a freelancer who is covered by our ethics
code. He did not see fit to tell us he had made a political contribution, either
at the time he made it or when he was contacted by MSNBC. The biggest difference,
though, is the cavalier attitude about journalistic ethics Fell exhibited.
He said he doesn't give 'a rat's ass' about the policies of this paper."
Fell's exact quote in response to the MSNBC report was: "For your information, I did contribute the amount listed to the Maxine Moul for Congress campaign in 2006 ... They don't pay me enough money [as a freelancer] to be able to dictate how I conduct myself in political campaigns. I generally do not donate to political candidates, but Maxine Moul is a longtime friend and former newspaper publisher where I got my start as a cartoonist in 1976.
"Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what the Lincoln Journal Star or their parent organization, Lee Enterprises, policies are on allowing newsroom staff to give to candidates and parties. I do not believe they did disclose my donations. That's their problem, not mine."
In citing the reason for Fell's dismissal, Rutledge wrote: "Fell's comments make it clear he does not care about guarding this newspaper's trust with readers. We don't think he should treat our credibility with such disdain."
Fell later told The Notebook, "Interestingly, during my 'you're fired phone conversation with the editor and editorial page editor on Friday afternoon, they mentioned that the Journal Star code of ethics covered freelancers as well as full-time staffers. I responded that it would have been nice, then, if they had thought to share that policy with their freelancers.
"You could have cut the long and uncomfortable silence with a knife."
Fell had worked on the staff of the Journal-Star from 1984 to 1992, when his position was terminated in a cost-cutting move by the newspaper. However, they still wanted to use his work and continued to buy them on a cartoon-by-cartoon basis for the next 15 years. Fell is currently syndicated by Artizans Syndicate and plans to continue to provide cartoons to client newspapers in Nebraska and nationwide.
On the Net:
http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/06/23/opinion/columns/doc467c78aad9f27797147986.txt
http://www.paulfellcartoons.com/