The duck will have his say

Bruce Tinsley, who draws the "Mallard Fillmore" comic strip, likes conflict. A devout conservative, he's married to a liberal civil rights lawyer.

He likes to be challenged. "When I speak to a conservative gathering or am around a bunch of conservatives, it can get boring," Tinsley said in a phone interview this week. "I find being around a bunch of people who primarily agree with me to be not particularly exciting."

Good. Then he would like spending time in the Triangle, where, based on my e-mail, he has plenty of critics.

But he also has plenty of fans. In our recent comics survey, which drew more than 6,500 voters, more than 1,100 listed "Mallard" as one of their top 12 strips.

"Mallard" is not one of our most popular comics (one strip had more than 4,000 votes). But "Mallard" does have a substantial and loyal following.

For that reason, "Mallard" will continue to run in The N&O. The people have spoken -- and we've listened. For more on the results of the survey, including your top 10 favorites, see Monday's Life, etc.

Tinsley, 50, has been syndicated since 1994. "Mallard" runs in about 400 papers. He welcomes the conflicting views about his work. "I wouldn't want to have a newspaper full of comics that people are just neutral about," he said.

Neither would I. Among our functions is to serve as a marketplace for ideas. Mallard plays a valuable role in pushing the debate rightward.

Some of you have complained that our two most politically oriented strips, "Mallard" and "Doonesbury," run in different places. Garry Trudeau's left-leaning strip has run on The N&O's op-ed page for decades.

Tinsley prefers his work run on the editorial or op-ed pages. That would be a better showcase, he said, and he believes his commentary on social issues at times doesn't fit on the comics pages.

But Steve Ford, who oversees our editorial pages, likes keeping "Doonesbury" on the op-ed page. And he doesn't want "Mallard."

Ford says "Doonesbury" is a longtime staple that fits the mission of the op-ed page. Adding "Mallard" to the op-ed page would give less room for opinion pieces.

Ford and I don't tell each other what to do. To keep news and commentary separate, we each report to Publisher Orage Quarles III. Ford doesn't influence our news coverage, and I don't influence editorial opinions.

That usually works well. This is one instance where, in my view, it leads to a problem. But it's a minor problem. While some of you have viewed this as one of the great journalistic issues of our era, I don't see it that way. I think each strip should run in The N&O, and it doesn't matter that much that they run in different places.

"Mallard" has earned its place in The N&O. Tinsley enjoys tweaking liberals and the media (he would say they are one and the same). That's OK by me.

When it comes to working in the public arena, he and I share the same philosophy. He doesn't want to have a nice, quiet comic strip. And I don't want to have a nice, quiet newspaper. The more voices, the better. Let the duck quack and quack and quack.