Salon shuts down after 31 years as its publishing model becomes unsustainable
Salon, a pioneering digital publication known for its coverage of politics, arts and culture, is shutting down after 31 years. The outlet announced the decision just weeks before its anniversary on 20 November, saying that the changing economics of independent digital journalism had made its publishing model unsustainable.
Founded in San Francisco in 1995, Salon emerged when the internet was still a largely unexplored medium and helped establish a new form of online journalism. It later moved most of its editorial staff to New York City in the 2000s and was described by the Columbia Journalism Review in 2011 as the internet’s oldest general-interest publication.
The site won several prominent awards during the 1990s, including Time magazine’s website of the year award in 1996 and BusinessWeek’s best website award in 1997. In announcing the closure, Salon expressed gratitude to the journalists, editors, photographers, producers, designers, business staff and others who sustained it over the years. The publication said its legacy lay in the journalism, ideas, voices, conversations and community created across its 31-year run.
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