Wow. Apparently FishbowlDC's "Things You Might Have Missed If You Only Read Romenesko" struck a nerve in the blogosphere. Media-watcher Mediacrity jumped on it, saying that Romenesko is "arbitrary and politically skewed in its items, links and letters." Which might be fine for just any ol' blogger, but for Romenesko, there's a higher burden. Why?

Because Romenesko makes an annual salary of $152,163 for his trouble, that's why. And his employer, the Poynter Institute, is a tax-exempt institution which "purports to be a non-ideological media think tank." And for that kind of mission - and money - Romenesko should not be turning up his nose at blogs, burying important items in teensy sidebars or skipping wholesale coverage of issues like the Victor Navasky-at-CJR dustup or the murky ethics in the UN press corps, says Mediacrity.

Andrew Sullivan weighs in, saying bravo to Romenesko for a payday well-earned, but he is nonetheless

a highly biased, left-wing blogger, who rarely links to blogs who provide media criticism from the right, and omits stories that the left doesn't like... His journalistic audience is skewed very left, so he's giving them what they want. But anyone, including Jack Shafer, who thinks this guy's neutral, is dreaming.

Jeff Jarvis, meanwhile, just wants the world to know - again - that Romenesko is TOO a blog, but in the comments a BuzzMachine reader defends Romenesko:

To criticize Romenesko for not linking to more non-commercial blogs simply means you don't understand his purpose. I read blogs, but I read Romenesko as a source of what is going on within the MSM. It's like you're criticizing a blog called "All About Dogs" because it doesn't contain information about cats and horses.

Meanwhile, in the Mediacrity comments, Pressthink's Jay Rosen quibbles that the Romenesko sidebar items are hardly overlooked, and another reader agrees that yes, Romenesko skews left left left.

So what is the upshot? Is Romenesko good or evil? Well, apparently he's whatever he wants to be, because according to the Poynter mission statement it's up to him: "The Poynter Institute is beholden to no interest except its own mission: to help journalists seek and achieve excellence."

Which translates into Romenekso doing whatever the hell he wants. But, that doesn't mean we can't complain about it.