Salon Closes After 31 Years Amid Digital Journalism Shift
Liberal online magazine Salon shutters after 31 years, citing unsustainable business model in digital journalism.
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Salon, a liberal online magazine known for its progressive stance and digital journalism, has shut down after 31 years of operation. The publication, which was founded on November 20, 1995, announced its closure on Thursday, just weeks before its 31st anniversary.
Salon’s Closure and Business Model Challenges
“Today, after 31 years, we are saddened to announce that Salon is ceasing publication,” the magazine’s farewell statement began. The editors expressed regret that their publishing model was “no longer sustainable” amid years of changes in the independent digital journalism business.
Salon was originally envisioned as “a publication with a strong voice, a curiosity about the world and a belief that the internet could bring journalism and readers together in new ways,” according to the statement. The publication’s board emphasized that they “examined power and politics, questioned assumptions, surfaced stories that deserved attention and made room for perspectives that were too often overlooked.” They also “helped shape conversations about the forces changing our lives.”
Salon was never just a website, the board wrote. “It was an idea about what journalism could be, born at a moment when the internet was still a largely unexplored frontier.”
Today, after 31 years, we are saddened to announce that Salon is ceasing publication. It has been an extraordinary privilege. https://t.co/a103i0aEKi https://t.co/GTFbVqAzvz
The publication was famous for its support of former U.S. President Bill Clinton during his sex affair scandal with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, among other things, the Los Angeles Times reported. Clinton later rued the affair as “immoral and foolish” in his 2004 autobiography, My Life.
Salon was part of the dot-com bubble, launching a highly anticipated but controversial initial public offering in 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported. Its stock price plummeted for years afterward, according to the Washington Post.
The outlet thanked its founders, staff, readers, and other collaborators. “Salon helped demonstrate what digital journalism could be and could become. We hope that legacy will continue to matter long after today,” the editors wrote.
Source: Daily Caller
