Slate to start business site

The business press these days is thriving. With the Fox Business Network and Conde Nast’s Portfolio -- both launched this year -- investors are clearly spoilt for choice. Now, the New York Observer reports that Slate might just be the next news outlet joining the cacophony of voices devoted to business news.

Slate editor David Plotz said that "there's an opening for a really smart, analytical, opinionated Web site that could be Webby and fast and agile". Is he right? Do investors need another business blog? I say certainly.

It’s easy for business readers to get lost in the barrage of headlines: The Fed cuts interest rates, stocks rally, Merrill Lynch issues massive writedowns, credit markets seize up. No one knows when it will all end. The business press is still grappling to understand the serious trouble that the U.S. financial system is in. A lack of commitment to investigative reporting and myopic vision among the head honchos within the editorial ranks has generated coverage that is too short-term, too forgettable and too unconfrontational - and we need an outlet that will take it further.

Slate would do well in targeting general readers who want to know more about business -- dissecting the news and showing the public just what it all means for them. Other online news sites such as TheStreet.com and Marketwatch – both of which produce great insights into many business topics -- are aimed largely at educated investors. Breakingviews -- also another stellar source of business opinion -- has effectively shut itself off from many potential readers because of its subscription model. So, Slate should cash in on this. There’s always a market for business news – after all, money can be made from following the money.