Salon.com Shuts Down Cultural and Political Site After 31 Years

Salon.com, the website that became popular in the early days of the internet offering cultural commentary, progressive political analysis, lifestyle content and more, is shutting down, the company announced Thursday.

“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,” the editorial team wrote in a statement.

The San Francisco-based site was known for launching numerous writers’ careers and was a daily stop for many readers in the days before social media. Among the film critics that wrote for Salon were Stephanie Zacharek, Andrew O’Hehir and Charles Taylor. The site’s television writers and critics included Heather Havrilesky, Hanh Nguyen, Maureen Ryan and Melanie McFarland.

Salon joins later-arriving sites such as Buzzfeed and Gawker that found it difficult to monetize cultural and topical reporting for a general audience and eventually shut down.

“The business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly over the years,” the editors continued in their statement. “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,” the statement concluded.