One of CBS’s toughest critics is on the media giant’s own payroll. Brian Montopoli, the editor of CBS Public Eye, makes a living off of criticizing his coworkers. And, he admits, it can make for awkward water-cooler conversation at the office.

Montopoli, the CBS News blogger/media watchdog, writes and edits Public Eye, a blog and viewer forum aimed at critiquing the quality of the company’s news content in an effort to promote transparency in the newsroom.

The ombudsman function of the blog, and of Montopoli himself, is unprecedented in television, he says. The job also requires a thick skin.

“TV people aren’t used to criticism,” says Montopoli. “The enthusiasm for somebody like an ombudsman-type criticism is not real strong.”

He denies that Public Eye’s creation had anything to do with the Rathergate scandal that rocked the broadcaster and forced news anchor Dan Rather to resign. Still, the creation of Public Eye a little over two years ago was an attempt to bring accountability to the newsroom. “It’s a brave new world,” he admits, “and it can be difficult to figure out how to negotiate it.”

Montopoli submits roughly six posts a day to the blog and includes daily video footage of CBS News’ line-up meetings. “If the people here do something that’s journalistically questionable, we’re going to get on it,” he says.

Montopoli’s job is complicated by the fact that he is on the CBS payroll and shares an office with many of the people whom he criticizes. “I have to choose my battles,” he says.

“It’s a lot harder because I don’t have the anonymity of the Internet,” adds Montopoli, whose office is down the hall from CBS News anchor Katie Couric and other frequent subjects of his criticisms.

Montopoli, a California native, was first interested in print journalism. After he graduated from Georgetown University, he held positions at Washington City Paper and the Washington Monthly. He also freelanced for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Slate, among other noteworthy publications.

He moved to New York when he secured a job at Columbia Journalism Review, wher he blogged about the 2004 presidential campaign.

Though he has successfully made the transition from print to broadcast, Montopoli says he is still uncertain whether he wants to stay in a broadcast-based medium. “I feel like I’ve been to some extent corrupted,” he quips. “Once you see the sausage being made, you lose your righteous indignation.”