Cuban responds to critics of Sharesleuth

I have been waiting for this: Billionaire investor Mark Cuban, responding to critics of the investigative business journalism Web site ShareSleuth.com that he has funded, replied on his Blog Maverick site with a rebuttal, one particularly aimed at former BusinessWeek writer Gary Weiss, author of “Wall Street vs. America.”

Earlier this week, Weiss posted on his blog a criticism of Cuban’s shorting the stock of the company mentioned in the first ShareSleuth article.

Cuban wrote, “What the people who are doing the most questioning, the traditional members, and the traditional bloggers, are missing, is the hypocrisy in their criticism.

“One former BusinessWeek reporter suggests in his blog what I am doing with Sharesleuth is not responsible journalism because I am trying to make a profit by trading on the information that we uncover. All the while, he promotes his site to draw readers, possibly chooses blog posts that will generate the most readership and promotes his TV appearances as a means to pimp his books , which are for sale with HUGE graphics on every page of his blog.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. The news, his news has to get paid for somehow , right ? But is he a responsible journalist ? Is he a responsible publisher ? Do we even know ?”

Read more here.

Weiss responded with: “I read through his rant a few times and still can’t comprehend his point. He seems to be saying that ‘transparency’ is the virtue of his website. I.e., he is upfront about using his site to front-run his reporters — thereby profiteering in the same manner as sleazy penny stock newsletter publishers.

“But after saying that he is transparent in his sleaziness, he takes a few shots at me and seems to say that I’m not transparent and that, in fact, nobody is transparent.

“He also…. now this is painful… accuses me of ‘pimping’ my book. Good heavens! What an accusation. An author using a blog to promote a book! The scandal. He found me out. What a sharp guy. Definitely right up there with Cuban front-running his reporters.”

The company that was the subject of the article and Cuban’s shortselling has also responded in a press release that can be read here.