As E.J.Thrib might write,
So farewell then Salon
Keith's Mum said
You were great in the day.
Sad, but hardly surprising, to hear that its current Crypto-owners have killed Salon. I treasure the work I did with for the pioneering eclectic on-line magazine which featured regular thought crime. Encouraged by editors like Joan Walsh, I was going after clayey footed Idols like Alan Greenspan, debunking Richard Holbrook and Madeleine Albright, suggesting that Patrick O Brian owed far more to Hornblower than he admitted, and going against the general pseudo-Leftist assumption that the genocidaires in Belgrade were in the front line against imperialism.
It was my account in Salon of the Nation teach in on the war in the Balkans and Kosovo that saw me effectively fired as the Nation's UN Correspondent. although true to form it took years to actually remove my name from the masthead, simply evincing a terminal reluctance to publish any of my submissions in the front of the book!
https://www.salon.com/writer/ian_williams
Statement on the Crypto-murder of Salon
From its final editors,
Today, after 31 years, we are saddened to announce that Salon is ceasing publication.
It’s difficult to find the right words for the end of something that has meant so much to so many people. 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.
When Salon launched in November 1995, the web was a very different place. A small group of journalists set out to create something original: 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. They helped pioneer a form of journalism that would come to define an entirely new era of publishing.
Over three decades, Salon has brought together politics, culture, criticism and ideas in a way that was distinctly our own. Our journalism examined power and politics, questioned assumptions, surfaced stories that deserved attention and made room for perspectives that were too often overlooked. Our writers and editors helped shape conversations about the forces changing our lives. The work was never simply about keeping up with the news. It was about making sense of it.
The history of Salon is also the history of the people who made it. We are profoundly grateful to the journalists, editors, photographers, producers, designers, business teams and countless other colleagues who brought this publication to life across its many chapters. To the founders who imagined it, the staff members who built it, the contributors who gave it their voices and the alumni who carried its spirit into the world: Thank you. Salon’s legacy belongs to all of you.
We also want to thank our readers. You came to Salon for the journalism, the dialogue, the essays, the criticism, the unexpected discoveries and the sense that there was a place on the internet where ideas mattered. You read, shared, challenged, subscribed, wrote to us and kept coming back. Your engagement made Salon a publication and a community, and it gave our work meaning. We are so grateful for the time you spent with us.
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.
Thirty-one years is a remarkable run, but what matters most is what happened during those years: the journalism, the ideas, the voices, the conversations and the community that grew around them. Salon helped demonstrate what digital journalism could be and could become. We hope that legacy will continue to matter long after today.
Thank you for being part of our story. It has been an extraordinary privilege.
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