Last Friday's layoffs at CBS.com turned out to have included CBS "Public Eye" blog editor Matthew Felling, who joined CBS News.com in May 2007 as co-editor, and then editor, of the network's media ethics and quasi-ombuds-blog. Since that time, Felling has been picked up freqently by media sites like Romenesko, TVNewser and ETP, as well as being a frequent guest on CNN's "Reliable Sources" and recurring guest-host on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" — even so, he received his pink slip on Friday along with the other laid-off staffers at CBS News and departed that day, with nary even a farewell post on the blog (his final post wast at 10:18 am, before the ax swung).

Today the Public Eye blog has a post by Brian Montopoli, current CBS political reporter and previous Public Eye co-editor with Felling, who, according to CBS interactive spokesperson Dana McClintock, will be "taking his spot." Though McClintock specifically denied that Public Eye was being eliminated, in an accelerating political season it seems unlikely that Montopoli would revert back to media criticism after deliberately switching beats — just as it seems unlikely that CBS would be hiring a replacement for Felling.

Felling, meanwhile, was on "Reliable Sources" this weekend, still credited as being with CBS. Public Eye launched in September 2005, led by Vaughn Ververs, who is now the senior political editor at CBSNews.com.

Related:
Email from Felling [Romensko]

Earlier:
"Bloodbath" at CBSNews: The Eye Swings The Ax With Pre-Holiday Layoffs [ETP]

Related:
About Public Eye [CBSNews]

Comments for this post are now closed