It's been a bleak couple of... well, years for the newspaper industry. Circulation's dwindling, reporters are being sent to jail, and people actually trust the press less than they trust Joe Scarborough. Now, following on the heels of news that popular schmaltz-factory Mitch Albom, Heaven bureau chief for the Detroit Free Press, invented stories and massaged quotes, we have one more reason to distrust even seemingly innocuous sections of the newspaper:

Channel 4 sports anchor Bob Lobel has filed a libel suit against "Get Fuzzy" comic strip creator Darby Conley, United Feature Syndicate, and the New Bedford Standard-Times, seeking unspecified damages and "such other and further relief the court finds just and appropriate."
[...]
The complaint charges that the May 13 version of the comic strip, by Conley, "constitutes a false and malicious libel of and concerning Lobel. The cartoon, read in its totality, is a smear of Lobel.

"It implies and asserts that Lobel is intoxicated when appearing on television..."

For shame, funny talking dog and cat. You have not lived up to the standards of accuracy and integrity set by your funny pages brethren. For an example of a cartoonist who's worthy the readership's trust, look to the surprisingly conscientious writer of "Sally Forth." —AP

Lobel files libel suit in response to "Get Fuzzy" strip [Boston Globe]