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Salon.com

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Salon
Type of site
News website
Available inEnglish
Owner
Created by
  • David Talbot
  • Gary Kamiya
  • Andrew Ross
  • Mignon Khargie
  • Scott Rosenberg
  • Laura Miller
EditorErin Keane (Editor in Chief)
Key peopleDrew Schoentrup (CEO)
URLsalon.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedApril 18, 1995;29 years ago(1995-04-18)[2]
Current statusOnline
OCLC43916723

Salonis an Americanpolitically progressiveandliberalnews and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles onU.S. politics,culture, and current events.[3][4][5][6]

Content and coverage[edit]

Saloncovers a variety of topics, including reviews and articles about books, films, and music;[1]articles about "modern life", including friendships, human sexual behavior, and relationships; and reviews and articles about technology, with a particular focus on thefree and open-source software(FOSS) movement.

According to the senior contributing writer for theAmerican Journalism Review,Paul Farhi,Salonoffers "provocative (if predictably liberal) political commentary and lots of sex."[7]

In 2008,Salonlaunched the interactive initiativeOpen Salon,a social content site/blog network for its readers. Originally a curated site with some of its content being featured onSalon,it fell into editorial neglect and was closed in March 2015.[8]

Responding to the question, "How far do you go with thetabloidsensibility to get readers?, "former Salon.com editor-in-chiefDavid Talbotsaid:

IsSalonmore tabloid-like? Yeah, we've made no secret of that. I've said all along that our formula here is that we're a smart tabloid. If by tabloid what you mean is you're trying to reach a popular audience, trying to write topics that are viscerally important to a readership, whether it's the story aboutthe mother in Houston who drowned her five childrenor the story on the missing intern in Washington,Chandra Levy.[9]

Staff and contributors[edit]

Alex Pareene,who wrote about politics forSalon,in New York in 2012

Salon.com,originally salon1999.com, was founded in 1995 byDavid Talbot,Gary Kamiya,Andrew Ross, Mignon Khargie,Scott Rosenberg,andLaura Miller.[10]

Regular contributors have included the political-opinion writersAmanda Marcotte,Scott Eric Kaufman,Heather Digby Partonand Sean Illing, critic Andrew O'Hehir and pop-culture columnistMary Elizabeth Williams.

David Talbot, founder and original editor-in-chief, also served several stints as CEO,[11]most recently replacingRichard Gingras,who left to joinGoogleas head of news products in July 2011.[12]Joan Walshwas the second editor-in-chief, serving in that role starting in 2005.[13]She stepped down as editor-in-chief in November 2010 and was replaced byKerry Lauerman.[14]David Daley took over the editor-in-chief position in June 2013.[15][16]

Jordan Hoffner took over as CEO in May 2016, also serving as editor-in-chief.[17]He resigned in May 2019, and was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Erin Keane.

As of September 2021,Salon's CEO wasChris Richmond,and its editor-in-chief was Erin Keane.[18]

History[edit]

2009-2012
2012-2017
2017-2019
Former logos ofSalon

Salonwas created in the wake of theSan Francisco newspaper strike of 1994,by formerSan Francisco Examinerarts and features editorDavid Talbotwho wished to explore the potential ofWeb.[19][20]It launched as salonmag.com[21]in November 1995. In its early days, readers noticed a specifically Northern California flavor. In 1996, Talbot agreed: "We swim in the soup of San Francisco. There are a lot of odd fish we've plucked out of the bay here and it gives us some of that Left Coast, Weird Coast style."[22]Timemagazine named it one of the Best Web Sites of 1996.[23]

Salonpurchased thevirtual communityThe WELLin April 1999 (switching to its current URL, salon.com, at roughly that time), and made itsinitial public offering(IPO) of Salon.com on theNASDAQstock exchange on June 22 of that year.[24]Subsequently, for the month of October 1999,Nielsen/NetRatingsreported thatSalonhad over two million users.[25]

Salon Premium,a pay-to-view (online) content subscription was introduced on April 25, 2001. The service signed up 130,000 subscribers and staved off discontinuation of services. However, in November 2002, the company announced it had accumulated cash and non-cash losses of $80 million, and by February 2003 it was having difficulty paying its rent and made an appeal for donations to keep the company running.

Front-page design in 2006

On October 9, 2003, Michael O'Donnell, thechief executiveand president of Salon Media Group, said he was leaving the company after seven years because it was "time for a change." When he left, Salon.com had accrued $83.6 million in losses since its inception, and its stock traded for 5¢ on theOTC Bulletin Board.David Talbot,Salon's chairman and editor-in-chief at the time, became the new chief executive. Elizabeth "Betsy" Hambrecht, thenSalon'schief financial officer,became the president.[26]

In July 2008,SalonlaunchedOpen Salon,a "social content site" and "curated blog network".[27]It was nominated for a 2009 National Magazine Award[28]in the category "best interactive feature." On March 9, 2015,Salonannounced it would be closingOpen Salonafter six years of hosting a community of writers and bloggers.[8]

Salonclosed its online chat board "Table Talk" on June 10, 2011, without stating an official reason for ending that section of the site.[29]

On July 16, 2012,Salonannounced that it would be featuring content fromMondoweiss.[30]

Salon Media Group soldThe WELLto the group of members in September 2012.[31]

Business model and operations[edit]

Salonhas been unprofitable through its entire history.[citation needed]Since 2007, the company has been dependent upon repeated cash injections from board ChairmanJohn WarnockandWilliam Hambrecht,father of formerSalonCEO Elizabeth Hambrecht.[32][33][34][35]During the nine months ending on December 31, 2012, these cash contributions amounted to $3.4 million, compared to revenue in the same period of $2.7 million.[36]In December 2016 and January 2017, the company was evicted from its New York offices at 132 West 31st Street, a block fromMadison Square Garden,for non-payment of $90,000 in back rent.[37][38]In February 2017, Spear Point Capital invested $1 million into Salon, taking a 29% equity stake and three seats on the company's board.[39]On August 30, 2019, Salon.com was sold for $5 million by Salon Media Group (Expert Market:SLNM) to privately held Salon.com, LLC, which is owned byChris Richmondand Drew Schoentrup.[40][41]

Aspects of the Salon.com site offerings, ordered by advancing date:

  • Free content: around 15 new articles posted per-day, revenues wholly derived from in-page advertisements.
    • Per-day new content was reduced for a time.
  • Salon Premiumsubscription: Approximately 20 percent of new content was made available to subscribers only. Other subscription benefits included free magazines and ad-free viewing. Larger, more conspicuous ad units were introduced for non-subscribers.
  • A hybrid subscription model: Readers can now read content by viewing a 15-second full screen advertisement to earn a "day pass" or gain access by subscribing toSalon Premium.
  • Salon Core:AfterSalon Premiumsubscriptions declined from about 100,000 to 10,000, it was rebranded in 2011 asSalon Coresubscriptions featuring a different mix of benefits.[11]
  • In 2018,Salonlaunched a beta program allowing customers to opt out of advertising in exchange for miningcryptocurrency.[42]

Controversies[edit]

Retracted article on vaccine conference[edit]

Main article:Deadly Immunity

An article called "Deadly Immunity" written byRobert F. Kennedy Jr.appeared on theSalonand simultaneously in the July 14, 2005 issue ofRolling Stone.[43]The article focused on the2000 Simpsonwood CDC conferenceand claimed thatthimerosal-containing vaccines caused autism,[44]as well as theconspiracy theorythat government health agencies have "colluded withBig Pharmato hide the risks of thimerosal from the public. "[45]The article was retracted bySalonon January 16, 2011, in response to criticisms of the article as inaccurate.[46]

Otto Warmbier[edit]

In March 2016, while American touristOtto Warmbierwas imprisoned inNorth Koreafor allegedly trying to steal apropaganda posterthere, the site posted an article about him headed: "This might be America's biggest idiot frat boy: Meet theUVastudent who thought he could pull a prank in North Korea. "[47]After Warmbier's death, the article was removed.[48][49]Andrew O'Hehir, the executive editor ofSalon,said the article was a summary of the opinions of television comedianLarry Wilmore.[48]

Todd Nickerson[edit]

In September 2015,Salonpublished an article written by Todd Nickerson, moderator ofVirtuous Pedophiles,about his experiences with being a non-offendingpedophile,titled: "I'm a pedophile, but not a monster."[50]This caused controversy at the time, with some commentators accusing it of being "pro-pedophile" (in the sense of being pro-child sexual abuse) and Nickerson himself subject to a "backlash."[51][52]This article, along with an accompanying video[53]and a follow-up article,[54]was deleted in early 2017. Some saw a connection between the removal of the articles and the controversy surroundingMilo Yiannopoulos'sremarks on child sexual abusethat emerged in February 2017,[51]although Salon Media Group CEO andSalonacting editor-in-chief Jordan Hoffner toldNew Yorkmagazine that they had been removed in January 2017 due to unspecified "new editorial policies."[51]A third article by sex researcherDebra Sohdefending Nickerson's side is still published as of April 2022.[55]

Cryptocurrency mining[edit]

In February 2018, it was noted thatSalonwas preventing readers usingad blockersfrom seeing its content. Such users are offered a choice of disabling their blocker, or allowingSalonto run an in-browser script, using the user's resources, to mineMonero,a form of cryptocurrency.[56][57]

Ron DeSantis headline[edit]

On June 23, 2021,Salonpublished an article with a headline falsely claiming that a bill signed by Florida GovernorRon DeSantiswould force Florida students and professors to register their political views with the state ofFlorida.The article went viral on Twitter and its false claim was promoted by various Democratic commentators, by Florida Commissioner of AgricultureNikki Fried(who later deleted her tweet linking to theSalonarticle), and by novelistStephen King(who later expressed regret for posting the headline). In 2022,Salonexecutive editor Andrew O'Hehir said thatSalonhad recently concluded that the headline "conveyed a misleading impression of what the Florida law actually said, and did not live up to our editorial standards", and the headline was changed. AnotherSaloneditor had initially defended the headline in 2021. DeSantis spokespersonChristina Pushawsaid that her colleagues had tried unsuccessfully to getSalonto change the headline in 2021, adding: "It's good to see thatSalonfinally changed its false headline after the pushback they received yesterday. It should have happened much sooner. Better yet, theSalonreporter and editors should have read the legislation before writing an article about it (a good practice for journalism, in general!). "[58][59]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"About Salon".Salon.
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  3. ^Sutton, Kelsey; Sterne, Peter (March 27, 2016)."The fall of Salon.com".Politico.RetrievedApril 1,2020.
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  5. ^Borchers, Callum (November 20, 2015)."Note to liberal media outlets: Opposition to Syrian refugees is not a fringe position".Washington Post.Washington DC: Nash Holdings LLC.RetrievedMarch 29,2017.
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  11. ^abCalderone, Michael (September 27, 2011)."SalonCEO Calls For 'American Spring' With Site's Relaunch ".Huffington Post.RetrievedOctober 4,2011.
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  13. ^"Salon's Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh Steps Down ".November 8, 2010.
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  16. ^Marr, Dave (February 19, 2014)."Saloneditor David Daley first Willson-Grady Digital Media Fellow ".Grady College.
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  28. ^Lauerman, Kerry (March 18, 2009)."Congratulations! You've just been nominated..."Opensalon.com. Archived fromthe originalon July 16, 2010.RetrievedApril 21,2010.
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  51. ^abcSingal, Jesse (February 22, 2017)."Salon Shouldn't Have Unpublished Its Article by a Pedophile Author".New York Magazine.New York.RetrievedAugust 19,2017.
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  54. ^Nickerson, Todd (September 30, 2015)."I'm a pedophile, you're the monsters: My week inside the vile right-wing hate machine".Salon.Los Angeles. Archived fromthe originalon June 8, 2016.RetrievedAugust 19,2017.
  55. ^Soh, Debra W.(October 27, 2015)."The pedophile I could not help: He was not a monster or a molester. The system destroyed him anyway".Salon.Los Angeles.Archivedfrom the original on March 24, 2022.RetrievedMarch 29,2022.
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  59. ^Tulp, Sophia (July 8, 2022)."Posts mischaracterize Florida law on college campus surveys".AP NEWS.RetrievedJuly 16,2022.

External links[edit]

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