Salon, one of the earliest digital news and opinion publications, has announced it is ceasing operations after 31 years online.
The outlet launched in November 1995, founded by David Talbot, a former arts and features editor at the San Francisco Examiner, along with Gary Kamiya, Laura Miller, Scott Rosenberg, Andrew Ross, and art director Mignon Khargie.
In a statement announcing the closure, Salon’s leadership pointed to the deteriorating economics of independent digital journalism.
The business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly over the years. After careful consideration, we have reached the difficult decision that our publishing model is no longer sustainable. We know this news will be deeply disappointing to many of you, and we share that sadness.
Salon now joins a lengthening list of media outlets that have either shut down entirely or been reduced to a shadow of their former selves in recent years, including the Messenger, Vice, BuzzFeed News, Sports Illustrated, Popular Science, Jezebel, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the New Jersey Star-Ledger, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Salon built a reputation over the past decade for sharply partisan commentary, including pieces describing Trump as a “committed enemy” of democracy and human rights, characterizing “MAGA and Christian nationalism” as a “bigger threat to America than Hamas could ever be,” and labeling the United States “post-Christian.”
The closure marks the end of one of the first major publications built for the web, launched in the earliest days of digital journalism and outlasting countless competitors before ultimately succumbing to the same economic pressures that have reshaped the media industry over the past several years.
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