When Stephen Brill looked in the mirror Wednesday morning, he may well have seen a hypocrite. Only he knows for sure.

Jim Romenesko's MediaNews reported yesterday that Brill, editor-in-chief and founder of Brill's Content, has stepped aside. He is to be replaced by David Kuhn, late of Tina Brown's new venture, Talk. In fact, Kuhn had already left Talk to join Brill's Content, so his appointment as E-i-C is more of a promotion than the result of a headhunt.

That said, the move was inevitable. If it wasn't Kuhn, it would have been somebody else. When Contentville.com was announced yesterday, Brill might as well have included a copy of his resignation letter in the press release.

For those who missed the news on Wednesday, a group of major media corporations (CBS, NBC, Primedia, Ingram Book Group, subscription service EBSCO, and Brill Media Holdings) agreed to partner up and create a site called Contentville.com. Said site will sell books, magazines, newspapers, etc., and have expert opinions from those in industry on what to read and not. It will share both office space and, in some cases, editorial staff with the folks at Brill's Content.

If this smells fishy, it is - at least on face. In his 'About Us' commentary on the magazine's website, Stephen Brill makes statements like, 'it's time to hold journalists accountable, it's time we embarrass them into doing their jobs the way they're supposed to -- with integrity, honesty, fairness and accuracy.' Better yet is this pearl: 'By exposing the bias, the imbalance, the inaccuracies, the untruths -- while praising those who get it right -- I hope to hold the media to strict new standards we can all benefit from. I want to tip the balance of power away from the increasingly arrogant and defensive media and put it back with those who use information, not those who manufacture it.'

Brill appears to have taken a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do attitude. His magazine was intended to be the good angel on the shoulder of the journalism, whispering in its ear that it should follow the right path of good reporting, and ignore the business-side devil chattering in its other ear. By and large, Brill's Content did just that. Aside from some questionable donations to Democratic politicans at the same time that the magazine was criticizing Kenneth Starr, Brill's Content has been a positive force in the business, and has written its fair share of top-flight stories.

Which makes this Contentville partnership all the more puzzling. Why on Earth would Brill do the one thing that any freshman PR major could tell him was the worst possible thing he could do?

To hear Editor Kuhn tell it, he and Brill have been working on the site for months; in fact, Kuhn says he was brought in for the purpose of being its editorial director. Subsequently, he says, he and Brill, in designing the website, decided that 'it seemed it would be criminal if some of it weren't translated into the magazine.' It was at that point that Brill decided to move upstairs and consolidate the magazine and the site under Kuhn. For his part, Kuhn justifies the partnership with many of the outlets that the magazine covers by saying, 'every important publication is now in business with other media companies, starting with The (New York) Times.'

Seems strange that a journalism watchdog magazine is justifying its actions by saying that everyone in the industry it watches, including its shining star, is already doing it. Wasn't the point of Brill's Content to critique those very endeavors?

At this point, nothing is clear. Brill's Content may well retain its editorial independence; if so, give Brill another feather for his cap. But if not, then Brill will be ruined as a credible individual. It remains to be seen what Bill Kovach, the ombudsman for Brill's Content, has to say in his next go-around. The level of ire in his piece (since one can only assume that he will treat this subject in his next column) will be a good indicator of just how strongly independent Brill's Content plans to remain.