Perhaps this article can be used as a way to get Brett Oppegaard and Civil Beat to clarify their relationship with each other and with readers.  

Every article BO authors is called "Column" rather than "Community Voice."  That seems to indicate BO gets paid for being a regular columnist.  Yet he is not listed as a CB staffer and has no email address at CB.  So what's the difference between "columnist" and "community voice" at CB, in general and for BO in particular?

Every BO article calls him "Reader Rep."  How did he get that title, and what does it really mean?  In a real newspaper, a real "ombudsman" is paid by management to speak on behalf of readers and to criticize editors and reporters when they perform badly.  But BO has never criticized CB nor taken any stand on behalf of readers or commenters in disputes with editors.  Certainly BO was never elected by readers to be their "rep."

Professors are expected to perform community service.  Is that ALL BO is doing at CB?