The Huffington Post has announced that it will begin an investigative journalism branch. I applaud this move, coming at a time when newspapers everywhere are cutting or eliminating the investigative reporting:

The Huffington Post said Sunday that it will bankroll a group of investigative journalists, directing them at first to look at stories about the nation's economy.

The popular Web site is collaborating with The Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers, said Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

Work that the journalists produce will be available for any publication or Web site to use at the same time it is posted on The Huffington Post, she said.

I attended a talk by Arianna Huffington last year. Her site's procedure is that she doesn't pay bloggers money to post at her site. Rather, they are rewarded (many of them richly) in traffic. This investigative reporting wing Huffpo continues that same basic model.