FINAL EDITION

Pioneering Digital Publication Shuts Down After 31 Years

The outlet cited changing business realities as the reason for its closure.

#2

The digital news site Salon has published its last story after 31 years of operation. Known for its political and cultural commentary, the website, founded in 1995, was an early adopter of digital media. The outlet was created by a group of former San Francisco Examiner journalists led by David Talbot, who served as its editor-in-chief until 2005 and as CEO across three separate terms. “It’s difficult to find the right words for the end of something that has meant so much to so many people,” a letter posted Thursday on its website reads. “Salon was never just a website. It was an idea about what journalism could be, born at a moment when the internet was still a largely unexplored frontier.” The letter chalks the closure up to the financial challenges of running an online site. “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.” The outlet helped launch the careers of many writers and journalists, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, who was Salon’s Washington Bureau Chief from 1999 to 2003, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald (2007-2012), MS NOW’s data guru Steve Kornacki (2010-2013), and Dave Eggers (1995-1997). The move comes amid chronic revenue loss in the journalism industry.