What we know
What we know: Online magazine Salon, an early staple of internet discourse, announces it will shut down
Compiled Nov 5
What we know
- Salon announced Thursday it would shut down after 31 years of publication
- The announcement cited that business realities of independent digital journalism have changed profoundly over the years
- Salon began in the mid-1990s as an online magazine and meeting place for provocative opinions and stories
- David Talbot founded Salon; he and Joan Walsh both served as editors-in-chief and became prominent progressive political voices
- High-profile writers who appeared in Salon included Jake Tapper and Glenn Greenwald
- Salon used Princess Diana's death in 1997 to expand beyond culture-and-criticism into breaking-news coverage
What we don’t know yet
- The announcement did not immediately indicate what would become of Salon's employees
- Salon did not immediately say what would become of its immense online archives
Open questions
- What will happen to Salon's employees who lost their jobs?
- What will happen to Salon's three decades of online archives?
- What specific business realities changed for independent digital journalism?
- Will any of Salon's content or brand continue in another form?
Drawn from the Associated Press report. “What we don’t know” lists only what the reporting itself flags as unresolved.