Sharesleuth, The Mark Cuban-backed investigative blog written by long-time reporter, Chris Carey and devoted to reporting on financial misdealings (and purportedly also designed to allow Cuban to reap the benefits of Carey's reporting in his own portfolio prior to stories' publication) has published its first piece. This comes after some unexpected delays where "i"s were dotted, "t"s crossed liabilities assessed.

The target? Xethanol Corp. The verdict? Still out.

I'll personally need to see a few more stories before I can get a feel for whether the whole project is a great success, or just a good idea vastly overhyped. But Cuban and Carey both deserve credit for investing in original reporting in the blog format. That much, on its face, is certainly welcome whenever and wherever it is found.

Let us reflect, just for a moment, that this type of probing, investigative business reporting is a luxury we enjoy in this country, and something that others have only recently given their lives in the name of.

-- MDT