Ben Fenwick confirmed to OU Daily Wednesday he was fired as editor of the Norman Transcript Tuesday after his candidacy for the Ward 5 city council seat was made public Monday.
Fenwick said he did not expect the application to be open record and contacted Norman Transcript leaders to inform them following the meeting. He said his publisher was upset that he hadn’t disclosed his intent to apply for the seat before he was chosen as one of the four Ward 5 candidates out of 14 applicants.
Alongside Fenwick, Dianna Hutzel, Brandon Clark and Brandon Nofire were named as candidates.
The selection committee was created after former Ward 5 Councilmember Michael Nash resigned from his position earlier this month. Nash wrote he found a new home outside of Ward 5, meaning he could not represent the ward’s constituents.
Fenwick said he already intended to step down from his editor position if appointed, but corporate officials at the Norman Transcript decided to terminate his employment.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but that’s okay,” Fenwick said. “I would say that the opportunity to apply for this comes at a good time, so I intended to do it, but I certainly didn’t expect that I would be staying on as editor if I was offered the position. We’ll see what happens.”
Fenwick told OU Daily the Norman Transcript has a policy of not letting journalists serve in any government office. The Society of Professional Journalists advises against journalists getting involved politically, stating in its code of ethics reporters should avoid associations that could impact credibility or integrity.
“It’s not a conflict if I'm not a journalist. … It’s not a conflict unless I expected to continue being the editor, and I didn’t, I never did,” Fenwick said. “The conflict would be if I was on city council and still expecting to cover the city of Norman, and I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
Fenwick is a career journalist who has previously worked for Reuters, the New York Times, Tulsa World, Oklahoma Watch, KGOU and the Oklahoma Gazette, according to an article by the Norman Transcript naming him as the publication’s editor in August 2024.
Fenwick said he moved to Norman to attend OU and has lived in the city for nearly 30 years.
“The one thing I have been (longer) than a journalist, is a resident of Norman,” Fenwick said.
Applicant interviews for the Ward 5 position will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday.
“In the long term, I have projects that I’ve been wanting to take on, …” Fenwick said. “There’s always work to be done and stories to write, and those things are still going to continue. I’m probably never not going to be a writer.”
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Natalie Armour and Thomas Pablo. Gretchen Schultz and Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
