I say it here, it comes out there. (Sort of.)

Yesterday, I had an exchange with the president of CBS News about PublicEye, the masochistic Web site on CBSNews.com that routinely invites bloggers and media critics to rip them a new one. Here's the salient part:

QUESTION: Do you like PublicEye, the fact that it casts a light on CBS News --

SEAN McMANUS: Sure. I think it's very healthy, absolutely. I read PublicEye. I think it's very healthy, absolutely. I mean, listen, just by the fact that I'm spending most of my life within CBS News, that in some ways is a very insular existence because de facto I'm in my office; I'm around CBS News 24 hours a day. Hearing from outside is very healthy. I read -- every single letter or e-mail I get, I read and I think about. I read the audience response e-mails that come into CBS News on a regular basis, the positive ones and the negative ones. As we all know, most of them are negative because people who respect your telecast and enjoy your telecast normally don't take the time to write in. People who have a problem normally do. But I read them. I take them into account. And listen, all news organizations are going to make mistakes in the future. You try to limit them. You try to make sure you don't make big mistakes. But I think healthy criticism and constructive criticism from the outside is something I pay a lot of attention to, absolutely. But I'm not specifically focused on satisfying the bloggers. I'm focused on doing my job, which is putting on a good newscast. And I think if I do that, the bloggers, hopefully, will appreciate that, as will the viewers.

I'm guessing McManus won't find last week's PublicEye guest column either healthy or constructive. They asked Matthew Felling of the Center for Media and Public Affairs to contribute. He did. The headline: "Don't Go A-Courtin' Katie Couric."

Link: CBSNews.com: Blog.