So is a blogger a journalist or isn't he? Michael Arrington thinks he isn't and he might have convinced Aol.

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch - the blog that provides not so much the pulse of tech as the whims of Arrington - will be stepping back as head of the blog to run a fund. Aol stated that it did so because Arrington has a conflict of interest and Aol is a journalistic organization.

Here's the context for this action:

1. This is a blog about VC and investment. VCs blog all the time.
2. Aol does have a large journalistic component, but it is not a newspaper.
3. Aol will back Arrington's fund, so it too should have a conflict of interest in permitting him to write for TechCrunch.

So, are we breaking with the journalistic paradigm or not if the man gets to blog? Is knowing his background and dealing enough?